Macharia Kamau (born 3 March 1958) is

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'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 an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

and as the former President of the

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

Executives Board.

Early life and education

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

College of Wooster The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Church ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

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, 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 a ...

in Administration and Social Policy from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, 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)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

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

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

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 (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 The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is a United Nations intergovernmental advisory body of both the General Assembly and the Security Council that supports peace efforts in conflict affected countries. A key addition to the capacity ...

. In May 2016,

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

Ban Ki-moon appointed Kamau and

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

, the former president of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date ...

and

Climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, 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 meteorologi ...

, 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

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

and

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

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 diplomats 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