Tanzania, March 7 -- A fortnight ago, it was reported that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will relocate up to 25 per cent of its New York staff to Nairobi by 2025.

The decision is being contested by staff, and there are reports of "tanking morale" as a result of it.

That, like Oxfam's that started a snail-pace move of its International Secretariat from its headquarters in Oxford, UK, to Nairobi, in 2018, seeks to bring the "agency closer to the communities it serves", an expression with a familiar African ring to it.

UNFPA employs just over 2,000 full-time employees in 150 countries, so the number from New York who would move to Nairobi is unlikely to fill a big beer hall.

But the impact of the logistics and sub-contractin...