Change of guard at UN Nairobi as ex-Haiti PM takes over amid restructuring

UN Secretary General António Guterres has appointed two-time Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille as the Resident Coordinator in Nairobi.

Conille succeeds Stephen Jackson, who proceeds to Beijing in the same capacity. The transition at the UN office in Nairobi is unfolding at a time more agencies are expected to shift to Nairobi in the restructuring of the global institution.

Conille’s arrival also comes at a time Nairobi is consolidating its position as a key global UN hub, amid ongoing reforms in the organisation that are expected to redistribute functions and expand the footprint of multilateral agencies in Kenya.

The United Nations is relocating the global headquarters of Unicef, UNFPA and UN Women from New York to Nairobi by late 2026.

This is part of the UN80 reform agenda to cut costs and decentralise operations to the Global South,  which is backed by a $340 million (Sh44 billion) expansion of the Gigiri complex.

Kenya already hosts one of the UN’s largest country teams and serves as a strategic base for regional operations across East Africa.

It is against this backdrop that Conille takes charge, with a mandate to coordinate UN activities and align them with Kenya’s national development priorities, while navigating a more complex and expanding institutional presence.

With more than two decades of experience in development, humanitarian affairs and governance, Conille brings a mix of field and policy expertise that insiders say will be critical as the UN recalibrates its operations.

He most recently served as Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Unicef, where he led programmes on child welfare, health systems and inequality. His previous assignments include serving as Resident Coordinator in Jamaica and Burundi.

Earlier in his career, he held senior positions at the UN Office for Project Services and the UN Development Programme. He began his UN journey with the UN Population Fund in Haiti.

Beyond the UN system, Conille has played high-level political and humanitarian roles, including serving twice as Haiti’s Prime Minister, most recently in 2024, where he dealt with security, governance and humanitarian crises.

During his tenure, he visited Kenya as part of the collaboration to deal with the gangs in Haiti.

He also served as Under Secretary General at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, overseeing global operations.

His advisory roles have included working with former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and serving as Chief of Staff to former US President Bill Clinton in his capacity as UN Special Envoy for Haiti.

As Resident Coordinator, Conille will serve as the highest-ranking UN official in the country, overseeing collaboration across agencies and ensuring coherence in programming.

With restructuring underway and the three new UN entities setting up in Nairobi, Conille’s tenure is likely to be defined not just by continuity but also by managing expansion and shaping the next phase of the UN’s presence in the Global South.