KENYA UNESCO/UNITWIN Chairs Network

The UNESCO/UNITWIN Chairs are networks established by UNESCO to enhance excellence in universities’ mandates of teaching, research, and community responsibility. The networks are expected to promote cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work.

For instance, through these networks, institutions all over the globe pool their human and material resources to address pressing challenges and contribute to the development of their societies. They have proven useful in informing policy decisions, establishing new teaching initiatives, generating innovation through research, and contributing to the enrichment of existing university programmes while promoting cultural diversity. In areas suffering from a dearth of expertise, these Networks have evolved into poles of excellence and innovation at the regional or sub-regional levels. They also contribute to strengthening North-South-South cooperation.

There are twelve UNESCO Chairs in Kenya whereby the universities apply competitively to UNESCO to host a UNESCO Chair through an MoU, in line with a particular theme related to SDGs and the country’s development agenda. The application deadline is usually at the end of April every year. Once given the right to host a UNESCO chair, the institution can reapply to continue hosting after four years of successfully implementing the MoU.  

The UNESCO chairs are in Alphabetical order:

1. 1.Agakhan University, UNESCO Chair on Youth Leadership in Science, Health, Gender, and Education, established in the year 2018.
2.  2. Centre for Training and Integrated Research in ASAL Development (CETRAD), UNESCO Chair on Natural & Cultural Heritage for Sustainable Mountain   Development, established in the year 1997.
3. 3. Chuka University, UNESCO Chair on Conservation of Environment and Water for Sustainable Development established in the year 2021.
4.  4. Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, UNESCO Conservation on Anticipatory Socio-Technical Systems, established in the year 2021.
5. 5. Egerton University, UNESCO Chair on Bioethics, established in the year 1997.
6. Kabarak University, UNESCO Chair on Culture and Arts in Education for Sustainable Education, established in the year 2022.
7. 6. Kenyatta University, UNESCO Chair onHigher Education Development for a Green Economy and Sustainability (HEDGES) established in the year 2017.
8. 7. Machakos University,UNESCO Chair on Cloud Computing for Sustainable Development, established in the year 2022.
9. 8. Moi University, UNESCO Chair on Enterprise Management and Sustainability, established in the year 2019.
10. 9. Rongo University, UNESCO Chair on Community Radio for Agricultural Education, established in the year 2018.
11. 10. Strathmore University, UNESCO Chair on Climate Change, Resilience and Sustainability, established in the year 2021.
12.  11. University of Nairobi, UNESCO Chair on Women and Sustainable Development established in the year 2006

In May 2019, the UNESCO Chairs formed a network whose Secretariat is KNATCOM. This network is currently engaged in activities in line with their proposals with regard to the SDGs. The UNESCO Chairs leverage experiences, relevance, achievements, and their structural support on the theme “Knowledge Creation, Innovation and Sustainable Development in Kenya”.