Strengthening UN Women’s global presence: A pivot to regions and countries

While a proportion of technical functions will move, UN Women will retain its strong presence in New York, US, to continue its vital normative work. The process of recalibrating the balance of functions between New York and other locations is well underway, guided by internal consultations, cost-efficiency analyses, and a commitment to staff well-being. Some personnel have already moved to Bonn, Germany, and Nairobi, Kenya, with further transfers taking place through the end of 2025 and into 2026 as we build a more agile, inclusive, and globally connected UN Women. See more on our global offices.

• February 2022: The Executive Director introduced the concept of a pivot to the field in her initial speech to the Board in 2022 as one of her three priorities for her new tenure. “We need concerted action at country level. And that is why my third priority for UN Women is to ensure a pivot to the field. As you know, we have already been working hard to recalibrate and re-capacitate our presence in our country offices. I aim to deepen this work to strengthen our collaboration in the countries.”
• September 2024: Update on the focus for “results on the ground”. “We have decentralized, delegating greater authority to country and regional levels in procurement, finance, human resources and project management. In these areas we have seen a 50 per cent shift in transactions from HQ to the field since 2021. We have shifted resources to strengthen capacities directly linked to country-level results. And within our approved funding framework we have allocated USD 72.45 million to regions and countries as a one-time investment. We have improved planning, monitoring and reporting structures to more intentionally deliver and measure our impact on the ground for women and girls. You saw the results of this in my Annual Report of work, presented in our June session. We are now moving to leverage efficiency and effectiveness gains that come from placing positions in the right place.”
• February 2025: Detail of expected gains: “The pivot is about strengthening our delivery of results on the ground, where women and girls are, and leveraging our triple mandate at the regional and country levels to achieve that. It is about ensuring there is a clear thread between our crucial global normative work—in New York or elsewhere—and real, tangible changes in the lives of the women and girls we serve. As you know, we are focusing our budget, prioritizing the country level, and empowering our Representatives and Regional Directors with greater authority. We are also moving some 190 positions from New York to Nairobi and Bonn, where we can be closer to the women and girls we serve and leverage cost efficiencies. Premises are secured in Nairobi and Bonn and will be ready by this July. We expect to save a minimum of USD 8 million a year once the changes are completed—saving an average of USD 52,000 per year in Bonn, and USD 32,000 in Nairobi for each international position we move. Costs such as rent and security will fall by over two-thirds—from USD 14,000 to USD 4,000 per post—and we anticipate further savings in travel. Perhaps most importantly, these are positions being moved closer to the people we serve, so that they, our people, can serve better.”
• May 2025: The link with UN80: “UN Women fully supports UN80 and we will continue to do so, and to ensure that women’s rights remain central to all the sustainable development, peace and security ambitions of the UN. We are prepared to be bold in our ambition, relentless in our delivery, fearless in our advocacy. And we are prepared to move as one, guided by your leadership. We are already reforming to deliver better: rejuvenating our business model, accelerating our pivot to the field, and shifting resources to where they matter most. This is UN80 in action.”
• June 2025: Explicit link with the UN Women Strategic Plan 2026–2029: “We will continue to adapt, so that we can continue delivering for women and girls. We will work on ensuring greater efficiencies, reducing costs, exploring costs-sharing with our sister agencies, and as you will hear, in our new Strategic Plan, we will become more focused and streamlined. The pivot to the countries and regions initiative has given us an advantage, and we are all well on our way to meet the target of 200 personnel moving by the end of 2026, reducing our New York footprint by 33 per cent.”