United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa was established in 1958 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its member states following a recommendation of the United Nations General Assembly. It is one of five regional commissions.
The ECA has 54 member states, corresponding to the 54 member states of the United Nations that lie within the continent of Africa or in oceans nearby the continent. The ECA's mandate is to promote the economic and social development of its member states, foster intra-regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development.
On October 6, 2023, the UN Secretary-General appointed Claver Gatete of Rwanda as the Executive Secretary of UNECA, replacing the Cameroonian Vera Songwe.
Themes and programs
The commission's work is structured into seven program divisions:- African Centre for Statistics
- Macroeconomic Policy
- Social development Policy
- Innovation and Technology
- Regional integration and Trade
- Capacity Development
Implementing Sustainable Development Goals
The ECA seeks to balance the global Sustainable Development Goals with prior regional agendas that are supported by governments. Notably this is done for Agenda 2063, which was agreed on by the African Union a few months before the launch of the SDGs in 2015. To better integrate the two agendas in country plans and activities, UNECA has developed an online tool indicating synergies and trade-offs and an integrated planning and reporting toolkit. In terms of gaps, three of twenty Agenda 2063 goals do not align with any SDG.The Regional Fora for Sustainable Development work as a coordination mechanism and resemble a “mini-[High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development|High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)]” in the region. The Seventh African Forum on Sustainable Development, for example, was followed by efforts to seek more funding for the Congo Basin by taking the conference outcomes to both the COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 and to the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Climate finance
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in more debts for many countries and sparked a global discussion on new financial mechanisms. All of the Regional Commissions—except for the one for Europe, given the prevalence of high-income countries in its membership—launched new initiatives, many linked to climate finance. The ECA launched the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility in 2021 to mobilize capital, supported by an asset management firm and a collateral management provider. Its objectives are to support the liquidity of African sovereign eurobonds and incentivize SDG-related investments on the continent.Locations
The headquarters, Africa Hall, is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and opened 1961.There are five subregional headquarters:
Executive secretaries
| Name | Country | Years |
| Claver Gatete |  Rwanda |