Souad Aden-Osman
Executive Director, Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA)
Ms. Souad Aden-Osman is the Executive Director for the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA). She is also the Head of the secretariat of the African Union High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from Africa (HLP on IFFs). In this capacity, she serves as the Coordinator of the Consortium to Stem IFFs from Africa. Prior to her current roles, she led the Joint Secretariat Support Office (JSSO) for the African Union, African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Ms. Aden-Osman served in the office of the Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist of UNECA. In this role, she worked with the leadership of continental pan-African institutions that led the establishment of the African Climate Policy Center (ACPC) and the African Mineral Development Center (AMDC). Ms. Aden-Osman was part of several reform teams in the UN and directed the implementation of major institutional activities including the African Development Forum (ADF VII and ADF VIII). She recently coordinated the preparation and adoption by AU Assembly of the Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR). Under her leadership, CoDA fostered the work of Afrexim Bank and the African Union Commission towards the establishment of the African Business Council (AfDC). Ms. Aden-Osman has more than two decades of varied senior titles within the United Nations system, Canadian government and several private sector institutions. Souad Aden-Osman is a Djiboutian Canadian and holds an M.B.A (University of Ottawa).