Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA)

AUDA-NEPAD Knowledge Series: The Critical Role of Digital Transformation in Africa in the Post Covid-19 Era: How to Accelerate Application of Practical Digital Solutions at Scale with Impact On Jobs and Livelihoods

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought and continues to bring about unprecedented disruptions to the global economy and threatens to undo socio-economic gains achieved by the African continent over the past two decades. Read more »

Paradigm shift needed in the approach to Financing for Development in Africa’s context

As the world confronts its largest economic contraction since the Second World War and the current crisis erodes already scarce resources, Africa and its advocates are calling for a paradigm shift in the approach to development financing, to help the continent address  current challenges and build back better for the future. Read more »

Youth and creativity: the African Response to COVID-19

When the first cases of the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) landed on the shores of the African continent in the spring of 2020, experts predicted a major catastrophe.

That doom’s day never occurred. On the contrary, Africa has continued to report low cases and deaths of COVID-19 compared to the rest of the world. By 30 September 2020, WHO reported a cumulative 33.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases including over a million deaths globally. Africa accounted for 1.4 million confirmed cases and 35,000 deaths cumulatively. It is also worth noting that over the same period, Africa had recorded 1.2 million cumulative recoveries. Read more »

A louder voice for Africa

On 6 August, after three days in office, Ms. Cristina Duarte, United Nations Under- Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa had her first official meeting with the African Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York (Africa Group), a primary constituency of the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa that she heads. Read more »