Coordination Role

OSAA’s coordination role involves bringing the UN system together on key issues pertaining to Africa. The Office convenes and chairs the Interdepartmental Task Force on African Affairs (IDTFAA) to:

• Improve coherence and coordination in the United Nations support to Africa, and
• Provide support to promote United Nations-African Union cooperation on issues related to the linkage between peace, security and development, especially through the Regional Coordination Mechanism of Africa (RCM-Africa)’s Advocacy and Communication Cluster, which OSAA co-chairs with the African Union Commission’s Directorate for Information and Communications.

The IDTFAA aims to ensure a coherent and integrated approach for United Nations support for Africa. This includes following-up on the implementation of all global summit and conference outcomes related to Africa.
The IDTFAA, which OSAA convenes and chairs at both principal and expert levels, serves as the mechanism for UN System-wide consultations and coordination on important UN activities on Africa straddling the interlinkage between development, peace and security.

Since its inception in May 2003, the Office has indeed, inter alia, been coordinating this Taskforce to ensure a coherent and integrated approach for United Nations support to Africa, including:

• Following-up on the implementation of all global summit and conference outcomes related to the continent;
• Coordinating global advocacy in support of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and Africa’s development, including during the Africa Week that takes place on the margin of the General Assembly debates on the development of Africa; and
• Preparing the reports of the Secretary-General.

The IDTFAA has been instrumental in the preparation and organisation of major events organised by the Office. It plays an active role in the annual Africa Dialogue Series (ADS), previously known as Africa Week, which is organized by OSAA in collaboration with the DGC, ECA, the African Union Commission (AUC), AUDA-NEPAD, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), to promote and mobilize United Nations system and international support for Africa’s development, peace and security agenda.