Welcome Reception for the Incoming Executive Director of UN-Habitat

Remarks of the UNON Director-General at the Cocktail Reception: Welcoming the New UN-Habitat Head

Wednesday, 21 August 2024

Your excellencies, members of the diplomatic corps, UN colleagues and friends of the United Nations good afternoon. Thank you very much for honoring our invitation – Inger and I , this afternoon,  to welcome our sister, and colleague Ms Anaclaudia Rossbach, Under -Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Habitat to the Kenya duty station.  We are very happy to receive her in Kenya following nomination by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, and confirmation by the General Assembly, on 7 June 2024. Inger and I are very grateful to the Secretary General for keeping our Nairobi girls’ team intact.

 She is bringing a wealth of experience, as an economist, manager and expert in social housing and urban policies; She has worked on projects such as designing one of the world’s most significant municipal-level slum-upgrade programs, in São Paulo, Brazil.

 When I was Foreign Minister of my country,  Sierra Leone, I had the opportunity to visit Brazil and its capitol Brasilia, and I was very impressed by the way how the city was designed, including government buildings. The innovative design meant well-functioning institutions and was promoting efficient social urban living.  And this enabled people and various government ministries to interact, share information and work together easily.  So, I am looking forward to her leadership in UN-Habitat and for our community to learn from Anacláudia’s rich experiences.
 
Throughout her career she interacted with beneficiaries, civil society, private companies, governments, academia and United Nations as a Senior Housing Specialist for the World Bank, which is a great asset to the United Nations to bring all these different perspectives and to be able to transfer and exchange knowledge to stakeholders at all levels.

Her advocacy is very commendable to co-create public policies oriented towards the promotion of justice and equity in cities of the Global South, with the final goal of overcoming urban poverty.

Today approximately 60% of the world’s population lives in cities. This percentage has been increasing over the years and we all see how urban areas are expanding rapidly, in regions like Africa, Asia, South America etc. In Africa however especially, population and cities are growing at an unprecedented rate.  Urbanization is transforming the continent, offering new opportunities for economic development but also bringing many challenges especially in terms of infrastructure, housing, and environmental sustainability.  But where are challenges, there is also our – UN determination to find solutions. And we as UN stand ready to cooperate with you and UN-Habitat in this respect.

My dear sisters, Inger and Anacláudia, dear excellencies, UN colleagues and friends, thank you all once more for your presence here today. For me the diversity found here, including with the diplomatic community at large, not only enhances operational effectiveness but also embodies the UN's core values of unity and cooperation among nations, and I hope for Anaclaudia,  she will fast feel same and feel here at home.

Now, I am pleased to ask Inger, the Under Secretary and Executive Director of UNEP and the co-host of this reception as well as my other dear sister, to take the floor.