PROJECT
ICRC Builds Regional Office in Nairobi
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onstruction projects have a tendency to be hazardous to the environment. Yet for some developers, protecting the environment is often elevated to the centre stage of project implementation. This emanates from the understanding that the built environment can catalyze opportunities for addressing a wide array of local and global challenges including climate change, land use, demographic shifts, water and other resource scarcities. In fact, for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), protecting the environment has been an underlying theme in the construction of the Nairobi office building of the ICRC Regional Delegation. Notably, it started from the basics – preserving as many indigenous trees as possible. When the ICRC purchased the 8.2 acres in Spring Valley on the outskirts of Nairobi, the notable attribute of the land was its green aspect with many trees and a quiet, serene environment that is largely residential with near-zero high-rise buildings. Immediately a decision was made that the architecture of the building must take into account maintaining the green aspect of the land by saving as many trees as possible. With the basics right, even the building itself had to adhere to the concept of sustainability in all aspects ranging from energy use, greenhouse gases emissions and water use to waste management and noise pollution, among others. 32
“As ICRC we believe in sustainability and this building brings out the best in green projects,” says Alexandra Vangelius, the Construction Project Manager. The Nairobi office is important for ICRC. It is a regional hub overseeing the operations of the humanitarian organization in three African countries namely Kenya, Djibouti and Tanzania and providing support to other countries in Africa and worldwide. It will also host some of the workforce of the Somalia operations. According to Olivier Dubois, ICRC Head of Regional Delegation, the need for the Nairobi office was informed by the fact that ICRC wanted to have its own permanent facility to reinforce the strategic anchoring of Nairobi in its wider Africa regional strategic framework. This will be critical in terms of Nairobi becoming the repository of appropriate resources both for thematic
CR | July/August 2021
engagement, institutional learning and also for operational responses. It will also see ICRC delocalize training considering the Nairobi office will have the largest training centre outside of the organization’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. “We want to delocalize some of our functions and we felt Nairobi is ideal as a regional hub,” he explains. He adds the office is strategic for ICRC in responding to the needs of migrants and refugees as well as supporting the enhancement of regional peace and security. It will also serve to enhance close collaboration with its counterparts at the Kenya Red Cross to promote humanitarian activities and response in the areas along the Kenyan coastline and in Carissa. Kenya is host to numerous international bodies owing to the country’s strategic importance in the wider eastern Africa region. Apart from the global organizations, the
country hosts one of the largest logistics centres for the ICRC. The centre is responsible for coordinating relief support to several countries in Africa and beyond by sending out supplies like medical, food and non-food items, and machinery by road, sea, air or rail to other ICRC operations. More importantly, the country is host to a great pool of human resource expertise ranging from water and habitat engineers, medical, learning and development, IT and data, experts in protection work and others. For ICRC, having a regional hub is critical in the effective undertaking of its mandates of protecting the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflicts and other situations of violence by providing them with assistance. The organization works in over 100 countries around the world. The largest operations are in Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Iraq and Nigeria. The countries that are directly
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