Nairobi – The Government of Kenya signed and launched the Kenya UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2018-2022 in Nairobi on 26 June 2018. The event was attended by representatives from the Office of the President, National Treasury, Council of Governors, the private sector, the Partners Group, and United Nations agencies including IOM, the UN Migration Agency.

The signing of the UNDAF was led by Henry Rotich, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning; Eugene Wamalwa, the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Devolution; and Siddharth Chatterjee, the UN Resident Coordinator for Kenya.

The UNDAF 2018-2022, which requires USD 1.9 billion in investments, was signed together with the first Joint Annual Work Plan 2018-2019. The framework and the Joint Work Plan are aligned with Kenya’s first tier of 128 Sustainable Development Goals indicators. This UNDAF process began in 2017 and brought together 21 UN agencies, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, 15 state departments, country governments and a broad range of UN Member States and Partners.

In his keynote address, Rotich observed that the New Generation UNDAF for Kenya will support the government to deliver on the new Mid-term Plan III, the Big 4 and Vision 2030.

The three pillars for this UNDAF include provisions for (1) Good governance, rule of law, human rights, gender and equality; (2) Sustainable and inclusive growth, environment and climate change; and (3) Equitable social and human capital development.

Resident Coordinator Chatterjee emphasized that the UN will deliver as one under the leadership of the Government of Kenya, in collaboration with UN partners and the Development Partners Group in Kenya.

The local authorities also mentioned the importance of the Cross-Border Programme between Kenya and Ethiopia, the prevention and resilience agenda and the need for integrated approaches to address radicalization and forced migration stating that cohesion and mutual dependency across borders remain vital to development.

Michael Pillinger, IOM Kenya Country Office Chief of Mission, congratulated the Kenyan government and its partners for working together to strengthen links across the three pillars while ensuring alignment of the UNDAF with national development priorities and regional cross-border commitments.

IOM Kenya participated extensively in the UNDAF processes and actively advocated for the inclusion of the Migration Governance Framework (MiGOF) as one of the frameworks that will support the government in monitoring, implementing and reporting on international norms and standards. In the new UNDAF the government has prioritized, among others, Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Kenya is among the countries that have participated in the second phase of the migration governance indicator (MGI) roll out and will soon be launching its report upon validation by the National Coordination Mechanism on Migration (NCM) which IOM also supports with funding from IGAD.

For more information please contact Michael Pillinger at IOM Kenya, Tel: +254 20 4221 161, Email: mpillinger@iom.int