In the leafy Nairobi suburb of Gigiri, the familiar low-rise UN blocks are giving way to gleaming glass-and-steel towers. The sound of construction fills the air as hard hats and cranes transform the United Nations Office at Nairobi (Unon) into a modern campus worthy of its growing global stature.
This is the biggest physical transformation Unon has seen since its creation — and with it comes a new chapter in Nairobi’s role on the world stage. More and more UN agencies, funds and programmes are relocating parts of their regional and global operations to Kenya, bringing a surge of staff, high-level meetings and a sense of diplomatic momentum.
“This expansion reflects Nairobi’s increasingly vital role in the UN family,” the UN information service told The Star.
It said move also reinforces the UN’s goals of cost-efficiency, sustainability and proximity to the Global South. “It brings the UN closer to the people it serves.”
At the heart of the revamp are two massive construction projects worth nearly $340 million (Sh43.9 billion) — the largest non-peacekeeping investment the UN secretariat has ever made in Africa.
The first has already reshaped the skyline inside the compound: ten ageing, prefabricated offices from the 1970s, built when Unep was first launched, have been replaced with six sleek, climate-resilient buildings. Inside, light pours through wide windows, offices are designed for accessibility,and every square metre is optimised to host the rising number of staff.
The second, far grander in scale, is a USD 265.6 million (Sh34.2 billion) overhaul of Unon’s conference facilities. Due to start in earnest in 2026 and finish by 2030, it will more than quadruple the campus’s meeting capacity — from 2,000 to 9,000 people — and add a showpiece 1,600-seat assembly hall. When complete, Nairobi will stand alongside Geneva and New York as one of only three UN campuses with such a venue.
Beyond bricks and mortar, Unon’s position is unmatched. It is the only UN Secretariat headquarters in Africa and the entire Global South. The sprawling 140-acre Gigiri Complex — gifted by Kenya in the 1970s — already hosts Unep and UN-Habitat, the only UN agencies headquartered outside the developed world. Today, its lush gardens and shaded walkways connect more than 40 UN entities, from humanitarian teams to peacekeeping planners.
More than 5,000 of the more than 6,000 UN staff in Kenya work within these gates. Their work spanning climate policy, emergency response, development projects and political mediation. The growing presence of agencies like Unicef UNFPA, and UN Women — each shifting parts of their global operations here — has turned Nairobi into one of the most important crossroads in the UN system.
Unon is also a green pioneer. Its award-winning, carbon-neutral office building — the first of its kind in Africa — recycles water, harnesses natural light and is cooled by nothing more than Nairobi’s gentle year-round climate. Across the campus, tree-lined avenues and manicured lawns frame the hum of quiet diplomatic energy.
And change is not just physical. Nairobi is also piloting the UN’s “Common Back Office” model — pooling administration, IT, HR, logistics and procurement into one streamlined service hub. It’s a quiet revolution in how the UN operates, designed to cut costs and improve efficiency across dozens of countries.
With its strategic time zone linking Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, and a campus soon capable of hosting the world’s most high-profile summits, Nairobi is no longer just Africa’s diplomatic capital — it’s becoming one of the UN’s most important global nerve centres.
Instant analysis
The UNON expansion cements Nairobi’s position as a top-tier global diplomatic hub, placing Kenya at the heart of multilateral decision-making in the Global South. With billions in investment, thousands of staff, and the capacity to host world-class summits, the project will boost Kenya’s international profile, attract high-level delegations, and stimulate the local economy through hospitality, transport, and service industries. Strategically, it enhances Kenya’s soft power, giving it a stronger voice in shaping UN policy, especially on African and developing world priorities. It also signals long-term stability and trust in Kenya as a host for sensitive global operations and negotiations.
by GILBERT KOECH
