Ms. Cliffe received a bachelor’s degree in history from Cambridge University and a masters degree in International Relations/International Economic Policy from Columbia University. Ms. Cliffe soon began working as a Program Manager for Community Education Centres in South Africa, an NGO that delivers training to unemployed workers and ex-combatants. While in South Africa Ms. Cliffe also became the Head of Media for the Congress of South African Trade Unions during the last days of the apartheid (How amazing would that be?! Such a massive turn in the world). She recalls “the actual first non racial election was very emotional” for her and the entire country. Following the end of the apartheid, Ms Cliffe moved to Rwanda where she worked in the Rwandan Ministry of Public Administration and the United Nations Development program to reestablish civil service structures following the 1994 genocide. During our interview, Ms Cliffe reflected on this time as some of the most valuable moments in her career, “the memory of what it was like, those images never leave you. [She] worked with people who were completely alone after all their family had been killed and even those who family members had done the killing. [She] has an astounding admiration for people able to get up everyday and live after that kind of terrible experience.” (Can you even imagine, we see pictures in the history books but Ms. Cliffe was THERE. In a period of only 100 days over 800,000 people were killed, simply incomprehensible). Next, she moved on to work for The World Bank as the Chief of Mission in Timor Leste following the violent 30 year occupation by Indonesia. While there she witnessed Indonesia relinquishing control of the territory, making Timor Leste the first new sovereign state of the 21st century. She mentioned those three countries when I asked her was her most memorable times in public service were. To be honest I was expecting the sort of classic “working with kids” or something along those lines but Ms. Cliffe dove into some of the most prominent events in the history books.
"Those images never leave you"