The first session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) for 2023 took place in a hybrid format on Tuesday, 28 and Wednesday 29th March, with delegates participating in person at the UN-Habitat headquarters in Nairobi and online from across the globe.
The Kenyan delegation comprised of Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Zachariah Mwangi Njeru as Head of Delegation, Ambassador Jean Kimani, Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat as alternate Head of delegation, senior officials from the State Department of Housing and Urban Development, officials from the Permanent Mission of Kenya to UN-Habitat and officials from the Ministry of foreign Affairs.
In his welcoming remarks, the Cabinet Secretary recognized the efforts of the Executive Director in fund-raising and noted that for the first time in 12 years UN-Habitat had realized a surplus. He appreciated the support from UN-Habitat in the implementation of its transformative agenda emphasizing that Kenya continued to prioritize Affordable Housing as one of its projects. He urged member states to contribute more resources to support the work of UN-Habitat.
Kenya also welcomed the report of the first session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly and appreciated the preparations for the second session, citing that it looked forward to hosting the second session, and the deliberations around it ,that enhance multilateralism and promote the sustainable Urban development and human settlements agenda.
The UN-Habitat Assembly is a Universal body composed of the 193 member states of the United Nations. The first session of UN Habitat Assembly convened in May 2019. The second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly will be held on 5th- 9th June 2023 at the UN-Headquarters in Gigiri. Consequently, the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) will meet in an open-ended manner on 29th- 31st May 2023 and 2nd June 2023 to Prepare for the second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly.
Kenya Permanent Mission to UN-Habitat
March 2023