United Nations to establish 3 new offices in Kenya

The world's largest recognized international organization is planning to set up offices to host the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFP) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality & the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN) programmes.

In a consultative meeting held at Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi’s office, it was noted that Kenya’s strategic positioning as the regional logistic and financial hub gives it an edge in supporting the UN’s pivotal role in multilateral diplomacy and advancing key global and regional priorities.

“We are working very closely, and Kenya is looking forward to the UN’s support with a commitment to make Nairobi a very critical hub for the UN’s operations both in the country, regionally and across the globe,” said Mudavadi. 

“Kenya will be leveraging on the UN’s existing presence in the country and the opportunities presented by its operations in the greater horn, east and central Africa sub-regions,” he added.

This will be in addition to the current two global offices, the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP and the UN-HABITAT which have their headquarters in Nairobi.

Mudavadi said the government is engaging and working with various stakeholders to ensure it provides a conducive and enabling environment with all legal frameworks put in place for this initiative to materialize.

He was speaking at his Railways HQ offices when he hosted the visiting President of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Philemon Yang for a high-level consultative meeting on Wednesday.

“I want to thank the government of Kenya for receiving the United Nations here in Nairobi. I have heard and personally seen many things happening from both sides and the collaboration and partnership on the Kenyan side is tremendous,” said Yang.

The meeting brought together key representatives from the United Nations, Nairobi offices led by the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON), Zainab Bangura and Senior Kenyan Government Officials including Principal Secretaries Korir Sing’Oei (Foreign Affairs), Joseph Mbugua (Roads), Julius Koris (Water) and Aurelia Rono (Parliamentary Affairs) among others.

Bangura said the Kenyan government has been instrumental in ensuring a steady growth of UN operations, appreciating the current administration and the previous governments for having a sense of mutual benefits from the programmes run by the UN in Kenya.

She said as the world moves towards the 2030 deadlines and sets the agenda for 2063, Kenya’s experience highlights the need for collective action both within the country and globally to ensure that progress is inclusive and enduring. 

The path forward, she noted, will demand continuous innovation, resilience, and cooperation to achieve a more sustainable and equitable future for all.

“The Nairobi duty station is the fastest growing duty station in the United Nations, and it is the only one progressively recording a steady growth. As we speak, we have 86 UN offices in Kenya and 73 in Gigiri in Nairobi. When the UNEP was set up, we had only 300 staff, now we are boasting of 6,500 staff, 11,000 families and dependants.” she appreciated.

“With the support of the United Nations, Kenya’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals is being realized as we are making progressive strides in healthcare, education, gender equality and climate action among other support programs,” said Mudavadi.

The new global offices will boost the UN’s operations thus reaffirming Kenya’s leadership in regional and global affairs, since being admitted as a Member State of the United Nations on 16th December, 1963 immediately after attaining independence.

Nairobi has since been recognized as the heart of an innovative effort that is evolving the operational landscape of the United Nations in the region.

Mudavadi noted that by working together and with the UN’s support Kenya can achieve a lot not only for her economic growth and well-being of the citizens but much more for the good of the region and world.

“Apart from the UN, we are seeing other entities wanting to come to Kenya.  We are already receiving a fairly rapid line of requests, from other international agencies including non-governmental bodies, that would want to relocate and have their centers come to Nairobi,” the Prime CS pointed out.

“What I have noted is something invisible, which I found out to be the positive and proper attitude whose efforts are great, and I foresee a great future with great things and miracles happening through this partnership. Coming and reasoning together is the way into the future,” said Yang.

The Director-General of the UN Office at Nairobi revealed that at the 2030 UN General Assembly, a special request for consideration to elevate Kenya’s stature will be presented to bring Nairobi to a favourable competitive level with Geneva and New York.

“We will be investing 340 m dollars (Ksh.44 billion) in upgrading the infrastructure and one of the investments is building an Assembly Hall, the 1st assembly hall, the UN General Assembly is building since 1949.

"Once the project is concluded, if called upon and required, Kenya will then be in a position to hold a UN General Assembly because they will have the infrastructure in place. We are going to have a 9,000, sitting capacity, which is at par with New York and Geneva and we are going to have 30 conference meeting rooms.” Baranga explained.

The UN is an intergovernmental organization that aims to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations and countries, achieve international cooperation, and serve as a centre for coordinating the actions of member states.

The UN headquarters is located in New York City, in international territory with certain privileges extraterritorial to the United States, and has other offices in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna, and The Hague, where the International Court of Justice is headquartered at the Peace Palace.

The UN is championing the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals which are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the earth’s environment and climate, and ensure that people everywhere can enjoy peace and prosperity.

In Kenya, the goals the UN is working on include championing to achieve zero hunger and poverty, quality and affordable education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure among others.