Nairobi, March 29, 2022- The Executive Board of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is convening its first session in 2022. The session takes place in Nairobi, Kenya from 29 to 31 March 2022.
“Since we last met in November 2021, in the space of four months, the world has changed dramatically. We are in the grip of political uncertainty worldwide. Let me reiterate the statement of the Secretary-General that it is never too late for peace,” said Executive Director of UN-Habitat Maimunah Mohd Sharif at the opening of the first Executive Board session in 2022.
The Executive Board exists to provide the oversight of UN-Habitat by Member States including overseeing the implementation of normative and operational activities, ensuring the accountability, transparency and effectiveness, and reviewing and approving the work programme and budget of the organisation. It comprises of 36 Member States elected by the United Nations Habitat Assembly. The board convenes two to three times a year.
At its current session in Nairobi, Members of the Executive Board will deliberate on financial, budgetary and administrative matters of UN-Habitat. It will review UN-Habitat’s draft annual work programme for 2023, as well as selected activities of the agency. The Executive Board will also discuss preparations for the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly to assess the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, to be held on 28 April 2022 in New York, and preparations for the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum to be held in Katowice, Poland in 2022.
The Executive Board is instrumental in providing guidance to UN-Habitat as cities and human settlements begin to recover from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Global recovery starts with human settlements and local action. We have seen how those at the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic came together, shared information, shared resources and prevented what would have been an even more tragic death rate,” said Ms. Sharif.
Also featuring on the agenda are issues related to the UN reform of the development system and actions by UN-Habitat to strengthen protection against sexual and any other type of exploitation and abuse and against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the session is taking place in a hybrid format combining an online participation with in-person presence of delegations.
In a message read on her behalf by Hugo Isaak, Urban General International Coordinator, the President of the UN Habitat Assembly and Under-Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of Mexico, Martha Delgado congratulated Maimunah Mohd Sharif on her election for a second term as Executive Director.
“This reflects the good work she has done during her first term and the need for continuity, it recognizes her vision that focuses on housing, localization of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the implementation of New Urban Agenda.
As the representative of the Assembly, I could not agree more with the priority areas in which her second term is focused and which, is also in line with the recommendations of the Member States in the Mid-Term High-Level Review of the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan.”
She said it was critical to advance the climate agenda and commitments made with more than 1,400 cities that form the climate action network adding it was part of the network’s broader strategy to focus on climate adaptation with a special interest in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable communities.
“For the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals, it is important to translate urban policies into management practices at the local level. Here she certainly emphasizes the need for cities and city managers to budget differently, develop action plans and raise funds to implement SDG-inspired policies.
In budgetary matters, there is a strong commitment from Mexico to the Secretariat's pragmatic budget proposal for 2023,” observed Ms. Delgado.
In her welcome address, Zainab Hawa Bangura UN Under-Secretary-General and Director-General of UNON also congratulated Ms. Sharif on her re-election as Executive Director of UN-Habitat for a second term stating that she looked forward to working with the ED working with her closely to ensure that UNON helps UN-Habitat achieve the targets that she has set for the Programme in the next two years.
“The focus areas including housing, climate adaptation and localising the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in Asia & Africa, is very much needed. My team is also helping UN-Habitat with the preparations for the High Level Meeting on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda that will be convened by the President of the General Assembly in New York on 28 April 2022.
We at UNON stand ready to support UN-Habitat achieve these noble goals despite financial constraints and the challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The Director General disclosed that 93 percent of the UN personnel in Nairobi duty station had been fully vaccinated. “ In line with the concept of the UN Complex as a safe-haven for all, today over 93% of staff, other categories of personnel and the contractors based on the Complex have been fully vaccinated. We are pleased to have both the Delegate’s Lounge and the Recreation Centre open again, signaling a return to some level of normality. UN-Habitat’s back to office rate is currently at 24%, and we expect more colleagues to return to the office following our guidance for gradual return to office policy,” she said.
On behalf of the Host Country, the Principal Secretary for Kenya’s Department of Housing Charles Hinga stated that the world was urbanizing rapidly with urban areas being home to over 55% of the world's population. Projections showed that by 2030, the world would have 43 mega cities with over 10 million inhabitants. Moreover by 2050 two thirds of humanity, will be living in urban areas.
“The role of UN-Habitat is, therefore, crucial in promoting sustainable cities and human settlements, and enabling Member states to effectively harness the transformative power of urbanization.
I wish to recognize the progress made by UN-Habitat and its governing bodies towards the implementation of the decisions of the first UN-Habitat Assembly and appreciate progress made on Programmatic, Budgetary and Administrative matters,” he said.
The Principal Secretary said the continued decline of the Non-Earmarked contributions was a matter of concern and the meeting needed to provide strategic direction to enable UN-Habitat to effectively implement its Strategic Plan 2020 -2023.
The current situation requires us to collectively demonstrate commitment in shaping the future of this organization. We urge the Secretariat to aggressively reach out to Member States and partners to support the resource mobilization strategy, as well as Partner and Pledge for Sustainable Urbanization at the World Urban Forum in June 2022. In the meantime, we call on Member States to render their support to UN-Habitat in seeking additional funding on the regular budget from the office of the United Nations Secretary-General which will also open up posts that are currently frozen.”
Taken from UN HABITAT web site