UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, has designated Ms. Gina Din Kariuki as Honorary Ambassador. Ms. Din will support the Fund’s efforts to empower women and adolescent girls, with a focus on advancing their health and rights.

Honorary Ambassadors are prominent individuals from the worlds of arts, science, literature, entertainment, sport or other fields of public life who have expressed their desire to contribute to the work of the United Nations. Their main role is to raise awareness of the objectives and priorities of the United Nations, conveying messages about its activities to the general public.

“I am excited to be part of a team that is already doing such great work," said Ms. Din. "I feel deeply honoured to have this opportunity to advocate for gender equality and women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. It's time for the full and equal participation of women in our social, political and economic world's to be the norm, not the exception.”

Ms. Din is a mother, mentor, respected business woman, philanthropist, founder and Executive Chair of the Gina Din Group. She was voted among the 100 Most Influential Africans by New African Magazine in 2013 and 2015 and named East Africa’s most outstanding business woman for 2015 by CNBC. She is also the chairperson of The Gina Din Foundation, which empowers youth and women with great potential by linking them to high achievers and providing them with critical resources.

“Given Gina’s strong commitment to the plight of women and young people in Kenya that are denied basic rights and opportunities that we take for granted, I know that she will be a compelling and eloquent advocate in focusing attention on these and related issues,” said UNFPA Kenya Representative Siddharth Chatterjee. “I am also confident that her prestige, talent and presence will help UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, in Kenya to send a powerful message to the hearts and minds of people in Kenya.”

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA works in over 150 countries and territories to expand the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy and productive lives.