Macharia Kamau (born 3 March 1958) is

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

's Principal Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He previously served as Kenya's representative to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and as the former President of the

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

Executives Board.

Early life and education

Kamau was born on 3 March 1958. In 1982, he graduated from the

College of Wooster {{Infobox university , image = College of Wooster seal.png , image_upright = .6 , name = The College of Wooster , former_names = University of Wooster (1866–1915) , motto ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, with a B.A. in History, Economics, and Religion. In 1983, he obtained a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum an ...

in Administration and Social Policy from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. He lists specializations in "macro-economic policy management and in social policy and planning".

Career

Kamau has had a long career in the service of the United Nations, including with

and the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

(UNDP) in Africa, the Caribbean and New York. He previously served as the Permanent Representative of

to the

from 2010 up to 26th Jan 2018, and previously in Nairobi (2009-2010). He has also served on UN special assignments, and was President of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Board (2014); President of UN Forests Forum (2011-2012), Co-Chair of the Ad hoc Working Group on Forest Financing (2010-2011), Vice President of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly, Co-Chair of the General Assembly Working Group on the

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

(SDGs) (2012-2014) and as co-facilitator of the post 2015 Development Agenda (2014-2015). He was also Chairperson of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission. In May 2016,

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

appointed Kamau and

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senato ...

, the former president of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, as

Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Special Envoy of the Secretary-General (SESG) is a title used by certain United Nations officials who are appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to deal with specific issues. Examples include the SESGs on HIV/AIDS in Africa, on ...

El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

and

Climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

, tasking them with calling attention to the 60 million people around the world affected by severe El Niño-linked drought and climate impacts and mobilising an integrated response that takes preparedness for future climatic events into account. In October 2016,

President of the United Nations General Assembly The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly. Election ...

Peter Thomson created a Sustainable Development Goals implementation team "in order to motivate actors at global, regional, national, and community levels" and appointed Kamau as the Special Envoy on Implementation and Climate Change. This team's tasks were to raise public awareness of the goals and their importance and to push for the implementation of the goals to the fullest extent possible by related agencies. Ambassador Kamau was appointed the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kenya in February 2018. On 22 March 2018, Kamau left his positions at the UN and announced his departure to the public via Twitter.

Publications

Kamau is the co-author of Transforming Multilateral Diplomacy: The Inside Story of the Sustainable Development Goals published in February 2018.

Political Views

Kamau views that peace can not be had when countries do not respect each other's borders and institutions. In 2018, Kamau criticized

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

and

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

on their coverage of Kenya and stated that he hoped they would take an audit on their editorial position on the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamau, Macharia 1958 births Kenyan environmentalists Living people Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Permanent representatives of Kenya to the United Nations Kenyan officials of the United Nations Chairmen and Presidents of UNICEF Special Envoys of the Secretary-General of the United Nations