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Sweden signs a partnership agreement with UN Kenya towards pooled funding for SDGs

10 June 2022

Caption: Lena Rupp and Annika Otterstedt from Embassy of Sweden and the UN Kenya Resident Coordinator holding up the agreement

Sweden and UN Kenya sign $4 million partnership towards catalysing financing for the SDGs in Kenya.

Joined-up funding enables joined-up United Nations development support to Kenya: that was the message today as the Embassy of Sweden in Kenya and United Nations Kenya today signed a new partnership agreement supporting capacity for the newly established “SDG Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) Kenya”.

The $4 Million partnership support will give the UN Kenya SDG MPTF Secretariat the necessary capacity to launch joint UN programming to help Kenya’s Government and people accelerate towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The partnership agreement signed by Stephen Jackson, UN Resident Coordinator – Kenya, and Annika Otterstedt, the Head of Development Cooperation, Embassy of Sweden – is also intended to help unlock scaled-up private sector investment in SDG attainment for Kenya.

Significantly, this Sweden-UN Kenya partnership sets the stage for catalysing financing for the SDGs in Kenya and comes just after the recently concluded SDGs Africa Investment Mobilisation Summit (SDGs AIMS) in May here in Nairobi, where Sweden, through Ambassador Caroline Vicini, affirmed its commitment to development coordination and aid effectiveness in Kenya.

"Joined up funding enables joined up delivery for the #SDGs and to help the UN better support countries like Kenya to build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic" - Ambassador Caroline Vicini

Stephen Jackson, the UN Resident Coordinator for Kenya, said that “this generous Swedish support comes at the right moment, as UN Kenya is finalising with the Government of Kenya a new Cooperation Framework in which joint UN action to support Kenya’s Government and people is at the core”.

Caption: Lena Rupp and Annika Otterstedt from the Embassy of Sweden together with Stephen Jackson and Ulrika Ferenius from UN RCO at the signing of the agreement at the Swedish Embassy in Kenya

During the multi-stakeholder validation meeting in early May, Annika Otterstedt affirmed that the UNSCDF aligned with Kenya's Vision 2030 development priorities as well as Sweden's Development Cooperation priorities for Kenya.

"The objectives and the vision of the UNSDCF very much align with our understanding of the needs of Kenya and Kenya's government and represent an innovative shift for the work of the UN in Kenya" - Annika Otterstedt