Inside the Ksh.43.8B UN expansion plan as 3 agencies move operations to Kenya

The Nairobi expansion has seen agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and UN Women relocate a number of their global operations to Nairobi. 

However, the headquarters of these agencies will remain in New York.

The United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), which is the only UN headquarters office in Africa and the Global South, is currently ongoing an office expansion to adapt to operational changes at the multilateral body.  

In December 2023, the UN General Assembly, under resolution 78/253, gave a nod to transformations to enable infrastructure development at the UNON complex in Gigiri.

A spokesperson at UNON told Citizen Digital that the expansion is part of the UN’s effort to "embrace cost-efficiency and sustainability.”

It is also part of its strategy to establish a greater presence in the Global South, as Gigiri serves as the representative office of the UN Secretary-General in Kenya.

What’s in the expansion?

UNON is currently developing infrastructure to support the global operations that will be taking place in Nairobi.

Currently, there are 6000 UN personnel in Kenya, with 5,000 based within the UNON complex in Gigiri working under 80 offices. The personnel run UN operations for Somalia, Sudan, peacekeeping and Special Political Missions.

Addressing a UN Civil Society Conference in May 2024, Mrs. Zainab Hawa Bangura, Under-Secretary-General and Director-General at UNON, said the project would include the replacement of office blocks A-J by the refurbishing of all existing office blocks as well as the construction of 6 new office blocks. It also involves an upgrade of Conference Facilities under the Gigiri Master Plan (GMP).

“UNON is currently undergoing a historical transformation that will not only boost our journey towards energy neutrality, but also biodiversity with the complex-wide reforestation initiative launched by the Secretary General exactly 1 year ago,” Mrs. Hawa told the Civil Society in 2024. 

The two construction projects approved by the General Assembly will be at a tune of $340 million (nearly Ksh.43.8 billion).

Here, $265.6 million (nearly Ksh.34.3 billion) was channelled to the major upgrade of the conference facilities at UNON, as approved by member states.

The UN states that the Conference Facility Project (CFP) aims to enhance Nairobi’s ability to host large, high-level global meetings, increasing meeting capacity from the current 2,000 to 9,000 participants. 16 more meeting rooms will be constructed to add to the existing 14, and an Assembly Hall with a capacity for 1600 participants will be constructed.

The upgrade approved in 2023 becomes the largest investment the UN Secretariat has undertaken in Africa, with the Assembly Hall expected to match the ones in Geneva and New York. 

The infrastructural development projects are expected to kick off in late 2025, as major constructions begin in late 2026 and are expected to be completed in 2030.

Under this expansion project, the multilateral body is also keen on going green, to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on energy saving, environmental and climate action.

The ‘greening UNON’ initiatives involve green operations and climate-conscious infrastructure, as Nairobi weather comes with zero heating and cooling costs. 

This is highlighted in the Building Performance Manual for the Design and Construction of UN Common Premises Office Buildings.

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