Sema Fonkem 26/07/2027

Thousands of United Nations (UN) employees will be relocating to Kenya as plans to move three major offices to Nairobi in 2026 are on the way.

The agencies including UN women, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which are currently based in New York will be moved to Kenya’s capital that currently host United Nations Education Program (UNEP) and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

In January 2025, Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General said the relocation is aimed at saving cost amidst reduced funding to UN by some key donors. In Febraury, president Donald Trump made it clear that Unites States of America (USA) will withdraw funding to some UN agencies.

In mid 2025, the UN reported that it had recieved only $5.6b donations from Trump’s administration instead of its $44b annual target. Moving offices from expensive cities such as Geneva and New York is a strategy to cut costs. 

$340m has been invested in Kenya by the UN to develop and equip its facilities. UN Gigiri Complex in Nairobi has a 9000 seater hall and tens of offices. This means it will become the busiest UN office.

Nairobi’s good international relations with the rest of Africa, its infrastructures, road network, stable economy, rich culture, and political stability have been a great catch for the UN.

Although this may sound good, rents and the cost of living in Nairobi and nearby cities may rapidly increase and unaffordable by the average Kenyan citizen. UN’s heavy presence in the continent does not mean favourtism for Kenya and Africa at large. The UN will continue to follow its regular procedures when dealing with issues and final decisions will still be made at the New York headquarters. 

The UN has approximately 44000 employees with 5000 of from Kenya.