Biographical Note

New Permanent Representative of Kenya Presents Credentials

 

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

The new Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations, Macharia Kamau, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Until his latest appointment, Mr. Kamau was Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Nairobi, where he served concurrently as Permanent Representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) from March 2009.

From August 2008 to March 2009, he served as a consultant in multiple concurrent roles, including Africa Adviser with the Global Development Department of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Advocacy and Leadership Adviser with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for East and Southern Africa; Independent Consultant with the Africa Child Policy Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Senior Associate at the Africa Policy Institute in Pretoria, South Africa; and Senior Adviser for Community Innovations in Pretoria.

Between June 2005 and July 2008, Mr. Kamau was the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative in South Africa, prior to which he served in the same country as Acting United Nations Resident Coordinator and Designated Official for Safety and Security.  From September 2002 to April 2005, he was United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Kigali, Rwanda.  From May to August 2002, he was the United Nations Representative and Technical Adviser to the Technical Support Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium, prior to which he held the post of Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Gaborone, Botswana from August 1998 until May 2002.

In addition to New York, Mr. Kamau’s extensive experience in the United Nations system earned him postings to Barbados, Namibia and Zambia, serving in various capacities with UNICEF and the United Nations Transition Assistance Group.  He joined UNICEF in 1985 as Programme Communication and Social Mobilization Consultant for the East and Southern Africa Regional Office in Nairobi.

Mr. Kamau holds degrees in history, economics and education from Wooster College, Ohio, and Harvard University, Massachusetts.

He was born on 3 March 1958.

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