UN’s Agency Mergers Draw Scrutiny Amid Global Relocations

UN’s Agency Mergers Draw Scrutiny Amid Global Relocations

Facing a severe liquidity crisis and a hostile Trump administration, the UN continues to merge several of its agencies and relocate them from New York to Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Perhaps the first two agencies to be merged will be UN Women (created in 2010) and the UN Population Fund (created in 1967), with some staff moved to Bonn and others to Nairobi.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) may also be next in line, likely moving to Nairobi.

The UN is considering several potential mergers primarily to reduce costs and improve efficiency, including merging the UN AIDS agency (UNAIDS) into the World Health Organization (WHO), consolidating the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and restructuring the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) and the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA).

“Externally, there has been enthusiastic reception from members of the UN family like UN Women, UNFPA, and UNICEF relocating global functions to Nairobi and Bonn,” according to a UN report.

Other possible locations include Bangkok, Doha, Dubai, and Istanbul.

Addressing the 80th UN General Assembly session last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan offered Istanbul as a new relocation site, describing the city as “an excellent UN hub.”

The UN’s cash crisis—prompting mergers and relocations—has been triggered by $2.8 billion in unpaid U.S. dues for both regular and peacekeeping budgets. As of last week, only 139 of 193 member states had paid their dues in full, leaving 54 countries in arrears.

Asked for an update on the move to Nairobi, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on October 3 that the UN complex in Nairobi is growing.

“The last time I was there, there was construction. It’s been expanding for some time. I think a number of agencies are already looking at moving. A lot of it will depend on the budget and decisions by Member States,” he said.

Regarding Istanbul’s offer, he added, “The relocation of posts from some traditional UN headquarters cities to others is something that has already been happening. Istanbul already hosts several regional hubs for UN organizations. We’re continuously evaluating these options.”

Kul Gautam, a former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and Assistant Secretary-General of the UN, said UNICEF has launched its own “Future Focus Initiative” to increase agility, efficiency, and effectiveness amid declining funding.

The initiative includes significant budget cuts at headquarters and regional offices, staff relocation to lower-cost locations, and the consolidation of some regional offices.

As part of this exercise, he said, UNICEF’s core budget at headquarters and regional offices will be cut by 25%, and about 70% of headquarters staff will be relocated to lower-cost duty stations like Bangkok, Nairobi, Doha, Dubai, and Istanbul—closer to most UNICEF field offices.

“Such redeployment of staff can help streamline operations and reduce operating costs,” Gautam said.

He added that many specialized UN agencies were originally created to provide technical expertise not readily available in developing countries.

“Since many developing countries now have highly skilled professionals—many of whom migrate to high-income countries—UN offices should consider employing more national professionals in developing countries at considerably lower costs than expatriates from the Global North.”

Decades ago, UNICEF pioneered the practice of employing a large number of national professionals in its country offices, he recalled.

“All UN agencies should now emulate this model while retaining the international nature of the organization,” said Gautam, author of Global Citizen from Gulmi: My Journey from the Hills of Nepal to the Halls of the United Nations.

He also criticised excessive bureaucracy, frequent meetings, and overly complex reports.

“With the advent of AI, there’s now an opportunity to consolidate and shorten these reports drastically. Even the frequency of board meetings is excessive—UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women, and WFP boards currently meet three times a year. Cutting this to twice would save resources without compromising accountability.”

Dr Purnima Mane, former Deputy Executive Director and UN Assistant Secretary-General at UNFPA, said that under the UN80 restructuring plan, it is unsurprising that the UN is considering merging some of its agencies such as UNFPA and UN Women and moving staff out of New York.

“Streamlining may temporarily resolve the liquidity crisis and demonstrate decentralisation, but these appear to be short-term cost-cutting steps rather than part of a broader strategic vision,” she said.

Cutbacks and mergers, she warned, could undermine decades of progress and jeopardise global development goals.

On merging UNFPA with UN Women, Dr Mane said, “While merging mandates of gender equality and reproductive rights may sound beneficial, the reality is more complex. In political contexts where sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) are contested, UNFPA’s work could be diluted through such a merger.”

She cautioned that previous commitments to SRHR could receive lower priority compared to politically safer areas such as women’s economic empowerment.

A merger, she said, also does not guarantee equivalent resources and could lead to deep cuts in funding for gender equality overall.

“This is a wake-up call for both agencies to coordinate better without undermining their core missions,” Dr Mane said.

Speaking personally, Shihana Mohamed, founding member and Coordinator of the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity and Inclusion (UN-ANDI), said UN Women was established to be a “force multiplier”—mainstreaming women’s rights across peacebuilding, development, and human rights.

“Yet today, it faces chronic underfunding, limited political influence, and a shrinking mandate,” she said.

“As a gender equality advocate, I fear that merging UN Women with UNFPA could further dilute its distinct mandate.”

“If the merger is rushed or imposed from the top, decades of institutional knowledge, technical expertise, and trusted partnerships could be lost,” she warned.

Mohamed stressed that any restructuring must preserve UN Women’s unique mandate.

“Member States must increase core funding for UN Women and support its integration across all UN agencies. Political backing must match rhetorical support,” she said.

She also called for meaningful consultation with feminist movements before making structural changes.

“Decisions affecting UN Women’s future must be transparent, inclusive, and grounded in human rights—not just cost-efficiency,” said Mohamed, a U.S. Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project and Equality Now on advancing the rights of women and girls.