Exclusive: Morale 'very low' over UNFPA New York staff move to Nairobi

The United Nations Population Fund is undertaking major organizational changes that would see a quarter of staff positions in its New York headquarters moving to Nairobi by 2025, a decision being contested by staff. Staff members Devex spoke to said there was a lack of consultation on the decision to relocate, and it’s unclear what the benefits of the move are. They are concerned about the repercussions it will have on women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights with the significant loss of staff involved in influencing policy and agenda setting in New York. Some have concerns about relocating to Kenya given the country’s pushback on LGBTQ+ and women’s rights. UNFPA is the United Nations’ dedicated agency focused on promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights. It operates in more than 150 countries and works to address unmet needs for family planning, prevent maternal deaths, and end gender-based violence. Some staffers could also lose their jobs in the process. UNFPA said the restructuring is not a downsizing exercise, but it is already causing people who do not want to move to Nairobi to look for jobs elsewhere or take a voluntary early separation. Some staffers are also concerned about the implications of the move on their family circumstances, safety, and health — with some undergoing treatment for serious illnesses in New York. The workload is currently “unmanageable,” and there’s a lot of anxiety and stress among staff, with morale being “very low,” Henia Dakkak, UNFPA staff council representative, told Devex. According to UNFPA, 80% of the affected staff were job-matched and informed whether their position stays in New York or will be moved to Nairobi. The remaining affected employees who weren’t job-matched can participate in an internal job fair set for Feb. 19. But there are no guarantees. “It is possible that not everybody is successful or chooses to apply or remain,” Ian McFarlane, director of UNFPA’s division of communication and strategic partnerships, told Devex. UNFPA is also looking for vacancies for its affected New York general service staff — who are locally recruited — either internally or in other U.N. agencies. As national staff, they cannot be relocated to another country. “It remains to be seen what decisions colleagues make. I think our responsibility is to help them make those decisions based on as much information about what … life will be like,” he said. The restructuring The majority of staffers moving to Nairobi are from the policy and strategy division and the technical division, which are being merged into one division as part of UNFPA’s restructuring. The agency said the decision was based on reviews conducted over the past few years looking at how the organization can realign its functions to better deliver on its work. Based on their findings, senior management reviewed several options, including locations, though it didn’t specify what those options or locations were. “We have, of course, thoroughly assessed pros, cons, risks, opportunities associated with each option. But we are sure and it’s very exciting that … these changes that we are embarking on are in the best interests of UNFPA,” Ib Petersen, UNFPA’s former deputy executive director for management, said during a staff meeting in September, a few days after the announcement was made, according to a recording reviewed by Devex. He said it is also in line with changes taking place with other U.N. agencies, who are also moving “a significant portion” of their headquarters staff out of New York, including to Nairobi, “which will become a real epicenter of the global south.” The move is meant to make UNFPA more effective and efficient by shifting its core functions closer to the people it serves. It will also show that UNFPA is “truly field-based,” by moving some of its core headquarters functions to the global south, according to an email sent by the office of the agency’s executive director in September, when the decision was made. Nairobi was chosen based on time zone, field proximity, geographic accessibility, staff safety and security, U.N. presence, infrastructure, and talent availability, according to an FAQ seen by Devex. Nairobi is a major hub for the U.N. in the global south, with some of the global body’s agencies headquartered there, including the U.N. Environment Programme and U.N. Human Settlements Programme, or UN-Habitat. UNFPA already has an office in Nairobi. In addition, its time zone allows a more timely response to requests from regional and country offices. Relocating staff there is also expected to lead to savings for UNFPA in terms of travel costs, staff salaries, and real estate, and reduce the organization’s carbon footprint, according to the FAQ. It also notes that future headquarters functions “might be relocated” in other duty stations in the future. Although management emphasized that relocation is not a cost-reduction measure, future cost savings of about $3.3 million a year are expected from 2026 onward from a reduction in staff and rent costs, according to details shared by management in a town hall last month, which was watched by Devex. When asked about the result of the reviews, McFarlane said they concluded that there’s a lot of room for integration and that UNFPA needed to be closer to its country offices, “because that’s where the action happens.” Their decision to move to Nairobi was also driven by the fact that nine out of 10 countries in the world with the highest levels of maternal mortality — one of UNFPA’s priorities — are in Africa. “It’s part of a longer-term retool, refit for the future, be where we need to be to deliver the results that we have,” he said. He said the reviews were “very much staff developed, and staff consulted,” and that they’ve been transparent and engaged with colleagues. Meanwhile, he said senior management looked at different countries located in the global north and global south, and that they assessed things such as staff safety and security, the kind of experience staff will have, as well as talent availability. But when pressed about what other options were considered, McFarlane said he didn’t know. “I think that there are always going to be decisions that are taken at the political level with consultations that not everybody is privy to,” he said. Unclear rationale As people get a preview of how life is in Nairobi, McFarlane said “there’s an excitement for many of us.” But not everyone is happy. Almost five months since the decision was announced, several staffers remain unconvinced about the rationale behind the move. Staff members who spoke to Devex did so on condition of anonymity out of fear they would be reprimanded for speaking to the media. They are concerned speaking out would have implications for their job at a time when positions are being reviewed and reassessed. They said the results of the reviews and available options were not shared with them, only the rationale that UNFPA is a field-based organization, and thus needs to be closer to the people it serves. “When we asked for an analysis, like share with us the analysis that made you come to this decision, why Nairobi out of other places, why that was decided? And secondly, what was the risk analysis? Because clearly there’s a risk to moving these divisions out of New York, out of the normative center of the U.N. And none have been provided,” one staff member said. They also countered management claims that the reviews included input from staff. “They were not staff developed. The ideas that staff proposed were rejected. The staff council suggested to the Executive Director that she meet with staff and she said she would, but since early December we have been waiting for a time,” another staff member told Devex. McFarlane said the executive director has entrusted the task to meet with affected staff to the organization’s deputy executive directors for management and program, as well as the director of the division of human resources, and that they have had multiple interactions with affected staff members. Natalia Kanem, the agency’s executive director, has also had in-depth discussions with the staff council since September, he said. Staff council representative Dakkak said restructuring is important for UNFPA to continue to be “fit for purpose” and be better positioned to deliver on its mandate. Staff also recognize the need to work more collaboratively. But the results of the reviews “were not shared enough or distributed enough” that some people felt it “came out of a vacuum.” Some staff members Devex spoke to were not against moving to Nairobi per se but would’ve appreciated being given options. That’s what they were hoping for when the decision was announced last September, such as creating different technical hubs in different regions based on each region’s unique needs. For example, a technical hub focused on addressing social norms in Africa, and a technical hub in Asia focused on helping governments deal with aging populations and low fertility rates. But there was no opportunity to do so, they said. Why Kenya? Meanwhile, some question the choice of Kenya for the relocation. Kenya criminalizes gay sex and members of the LGBTQ+ communities are often subjected to violence and discrimination. In recent years, conservative members of parliament proposed bills that further criminalize LGBTQ+ people, including the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality. Abortion is considered a fundamental right in Kenya’s constitution, but those who seek abortion care and those who provide it are vulnerable to arrests and prosecution as Kenya’s 1963 Penal Code continues to criminalize all abortion care. In 2023, the country also withdrew from a commitment to comprehensive sex education. “There are 22 countries in Africa where same-sex relationships are legal, and yet we’re choosing one where it’s illegal,” one staff member said. “It’s going to create a lot of problems for our colleagues, both in terms of the working environment, but also for their partners and for their children who may be LGBTQI,” the staff member added, noting that management didn’t even have an answer when they first raised these concerns. McFarlane said UNFPA has a clear stance, externally and internally, that sexual reproductive health and rights apply to everyone, and that they “strongly support the freedom of choice, nondiscrimination, zero tolerance for abuse against people who describe themselves or who identify as LGBTQI.” They have a group within UNFPA that allows staff to exchange information and experiences on these matters, and the organization is working with UN-GLOBE, the interagency association representing LGBTQ+ people in the U.N. system, and other U.N. agencies already in Nairobi “to make sure that we’re confident in the safety and freedom of our colleagues.” “I think we’re equipped to understand how you support colleagues when they are in those difficult circumstances. We don’t put them in danger. But we want to make sure that everybody is okay, and that they can contribute all their talent in their beautiful diversity, they can contribute that to our mission and mandate,” he said. “Change processes are complicated. You can never do enough communication. There are lots of perceptions, etc., around how all of that works,” he added. The biggest concern The biggest staff concern is the relocation’s impact on their ability to influence policy and advocate for sexual and reproductive health rights, and engage on the agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development at the global level. The bulk of the staff being relocated to Nairobi serve as the organization’s brain — they engage in different interagency and intergovernmental meetings and negotiations to influence policy and ensure that sexual and reproductive health rights are included in the political agenda of governments. Their work entails a lot of relationship building, advocacy, and providing technical support to senior management to ensure sexual and reproductive health rights are not sidelined in international policy settings as well as in the work of the U.N. system. While meetings can be done remotely, physical presence plays a huge part in the other aspects of the work, particularly in trust-building, according to some staff members. “People online don’t know what’s being said when the microphone is muted,” one staff member said. “The intelligence that people get through their networks … comes not when you’re online.” Only 10 staff members from the merged policy and technical programs will remain in New York. It would be tough for the 10 people to do all of that work, staffers whom Devex spoke to said. The 10 people may end up mostly supporting the office of the executive director, especially when it engages in meeting with the U.N. secretary-general and member states, leaving little capacity for anything else. While another team from UNFPA’s Intergovernmental, Interagency and Policy Dialogue Branch will also remain in New York, that team is small — composed of nine staff members — and reliant on the expertise of the technical division, they said. Staff worries are compounded by the increasing political pushback against SRHR in several countries, including the U.S. “What I would be concerned about is the mandate,” one of the staff members said. “What I have seen in my time with UNFPA is that other agencies support SRHR when it’s politically convenient. But when it becomes difficult, they don’t.” They said the political side of the U.N. remains in New York, and not in Nairobi. “If the center of U.N. policymaking were to shift, we should shift with it. But pulling us away from it doesn’t really make sense,” the staff member added. Staff members said they understand the importance of being field-focused but don’t think that necessitates putting an entire division in the field where they already have offices. There are concerns that the move would only duplicate or overlap work already being done at the country level in Nairobi. “We really need to figure out how we make our presence in Nairobi valuable and different from what already exists. Because to me, there’s no value in uprooting somebody’s life in New York and essentially sending them to Nairobi to do the same thing in Nairobi that they were doing [there],” one staff member said. Delivering better results for women and girls McFarlane said the restructuring is meant to “deliver better for the women and girls that we serve.” “We are continuing to make sure that the communication and the conversations take place, that all we can do to help everybody is in place. But we’re also convinced that for the women and girls of the world, we need to also change the way we operate,” he said. He also argued that while technical staff play an important role in UNFPA’s normative function — which includes things like policy support, technical assistance, advocacy, etc. — the information the agency uses and provides to U.N. agencies and others comes from the country offices. In addition, while they recognize that New York remains an important hub for setting global norms, UNFPA is also doing similar work at the national level. “We recognize New York remains important. We think we’re covering that. But we’re also making sure that we deliver our agenda on our normative role everywhere,” he said. This isn’t the first restructuring that has taken place within UNFPA. In 2022, the organization also relocated all of its humanitarian division staff to Geneva. But Dakkak said that created a “vacuum in New York” as there are no longer staff left to deal with the political aspects of their humanitarian work. As an example, Dakkak said UNFPA started U.N. action against sexual violence in conflict and lobbied the U.N. Security Council over the years for this agenda. But now, they are no longer able to cover that because the staff moved to Geneva. “A lot of processes with the Security Council, especially from the gender perspective, we are not part of it anymore, because everybody moved to Geneva,” she said. “It’s very difficult for people in Geneva to cover the things that are happening in New York.” And that could have implications for women and girls in conflict situations. Their rights and the protocols for ensuring their rights may not always be understood by other organizations. This is critical in the case of survivors of sexual violence, for example. There are protocols in place on how to take information without putting the victims at risk. However, some aren’t familiar with these protocols. “There are agencies … [that] haven’t worked with survivors of sexual violence. So sometimes they can make decisions that actually can harm the survivors,” Dakkak said. Board asks Affected staff have raised their concerns with the UNFPA executive board, which has asked senior management for more information on the restructuring, including an explanation of how the fund’s technical program and evaluation functions can serve their global mandates more effectively in Kenya. They have also asked for the cost-benefit analysis of the merger and relocation, the key risks involved with the move, and how the fund would continue to deliver support to regions outside of Africa. The board noted that different groups will be impacted by the restructuring, including funders, countries where UNFPA has programs, other U.N. entities, international organizations, civil society partners, and UNFPA staff, and reiterated their role in UNFPA’s governance. “While we fully respect the prerogative of UNFPA Management regarding the Optimisation Initiative, we also highly value transparency, trust, and meaningful consultation with the Executive Board,” Rebecca Bryant, deputy permanent representative of Australia to the United Nations in New York, said in a statement delivered during the board’s first session on Feb. 1 on behalf of 25 countries. Dakkak said the board was “not very happy” about not being consulted before the decision was made during an informal board meeting. “They were puzzled that this decision was made without prior consultation,” she said. McFarlane told Devex that senior management felt it was important to inform the staff about the decision before the board. While senior management had informal dialogues with the board, “it’s not the prerogative of the board to micromanage individual posts or divisions or that kind of … level of management,” he said. “That move remains the responsibility of the organization and the organization has to explain that bigger picture … what we’re doing, why we’re doing [it] and how we’re making sure that it’s as smooth a transition as possible,” he added. What’s next The actual relocation to Nairobi will take place in 2025, starting in March. There are concerns that seven months is too short a time to establish the working relationship of the new division, which is expected to become operational by Aug. 1 this year. According to Dakkak, their ask is for more staff from the policy and technical division to remain in New York and for the new division to stay in New York for at least a year to establish working relationships. Some felt there is a rush to move to Nairobi, and that undermines efforts to create a solid, integrated new division. McFarlane said management has thought about how to minimize disruption to UNFPA’s work during this restructuring period. But “the organization can’t stop. We have to continue delivering.” “It’s not like people are not working together already,” he said. “They’re going to be working in a new style, a new configuration. But it’s not that, Hello … I’ve never met you before.” Staff however said disruptions are already happening. “People are focusing on other things, because … they’re worried about their jobs,” one staff member said. There has also been a delay in filling some positions because of the restructuring, leaving staff juggling more work. “We’re just distracted from the big picture. And so we’re not being able to be as strategic as we should be,” the staff member said. A busy year ahead The deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals is just six years away. While significant progress has been made on women’s rights over the past decades, such as declines in maternal mortality and teenage pregnancies, and an increase in women’s access to modern contraception, a lot remains to be done. Progress on ending preventable maternal deaths has stalled, and more than 250 million women who don’t want to get pregnant are still not accessing modern contraception. All this is happening in what is a busy year for UNFPA. It’s the 30th year of the implementation of the action program of the International Conference on Population and Development, or ICPD, in which countries agreed in Cairo to make reproductive health care accessible to all. There’s also the Summit of the Future, which will take place during the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September. The Summit of the Future will set the groundwork for the post-2030 development agenda and is critical for UNFPA to engage in this work if it wants to ensure sexual and reproductive health rights form prominently in post-2030 priorities. While the SDGs now include a specific target on sexual and reproductive health and rights, that was not the case with the Millennium Development Goals when they came out in 2000. The original only targeted reducing maternal mortality by 75% by 2015. A second target of achieving universal access to reproductive health was added in 2007. Staff members said it’s always hard to get the SRHR agenda in these frameworks, and there is a risk that could happen again in the post-2030 agenda setting. “We need to engage in [the] process carefully and strategically to ensure we position [the] ICPD agenda. But with reduced capacities, [limited] attention of staff, and eventually weak [New York] presence, it will be hard to do,” said one staff member. UNFPA is also undergoing the mid-term review of its current strategic plan, which expires in 2025. Planning for its new strategic plan also starts this year. “I think the organization is trying to be more efficient, more creative about our work. Whether it’s positive or negative time will tell,” Dakkak said.