Kenya hosted a three-day Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) workshop from the 18th to the 20th of April, 2023, in partnership with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). The event was held at the United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi, to provide capacity-building and legal consultancy services in international space law and establish mechanisms in Kenya for setting national regulatory and policy frameworks attuned to its various space activities. The effort is an important step ahead for Nairobi since the launch of its first satellite, Taifa-1, earlier in April 2023.
The workshop saw the participation of various stakeholders from Kenya’s space ecosystem, including the Defence Principal Secretary, Patrick Mariru, the UNOOSA Director, Niklas Hedman, Head of French Development and Cooperation Service in Nairobi, Denis Sainte-Marie, as well as KSA delegates from government and private institutions in Kenya. The event was held to promote a shared understanding and experiences on implementing the Space Treaty and ensuring the sustainability of space activities.
In 2022, UNOOSA and the Kenya Space Agency (KSA) expressed their intention to collaborate under the “Space Law for New Space Actors” project to establish a cross-government focal point network. This collaboration is aimed to enable the organisations to gather international expertise and provide peer-to-peer networking opportunities, in-person training, and joint promotion of the project as implemented. As part of the partnership, a Technical Advisory Mission was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, in the first half of 2023 to provide capacity-building and legal advisory services tailored to regulatory authorities in Kenya and assess Kenya’s needs in the area of international space law, taking into account the country’s specific judicial, administrative, and technical requirements.
The TAM workshop is expected to contribute significantly to developing a national regulatory and policy framework that aligns with international standards, enhances the participation of Kenya in the global space community, and ultimately facilitates the sustainable development of space activities in the country.
