UN Secretary-General appoints CERF Advisory Group

(New York: 28 April 2006): United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today announced the appointment of the twelve members of the Advisory Group for the new Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
The task of the CERF Advisory Group is to provide periodic policy guidance and expert advice on the use and impact of the Fund to the Secretary-General, through the Under-Secretary-General. Its establishment conforms to the provisions included in General Assembly resolution 60/124 (2005), by which the United Nations membership decided to upgrade the former revolving fund by endowing it with a grant-giving element.

"Too often, aid has resembled a lottery in which a few win but most lose based on considerations other than need. We are working to move from lottery to predictability so that all those who suffer receive aid," affirmed Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in welcoming the announcement. "With every step we take to put these new CERF mechanisms in place, we are contributing to that overall effort," he added.

In total, United Nations Member States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations nominated 39 candidates for membership in the Advisory Group. The Advisory Group will hold its first meeting in New York on 23 May 2006.

"The high quality of nominations received meant that there was an outstanding pool of candidates from which to choose. The Secretary-General was able to appoint members with experience and technical expertise from around the globe," noted Robert A. Enholm, Chief of the CERF Secretariat within the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The new CERF will save lives by providing quick initial funding for life-saving assistance and rapid response in sudden onset emergencies, rapid deteriorations, and neglected emergencies. In doing so, it will be used to help redress the existing imbalance in global aid distribution, as a result of which millions of people in so-called neglected or forgotten crises remain in need, while others benefit from better-funded programmes.

Towards the target of $450 million for the grant facility, the United Nations has received $254 million from 40 countries and two private sector donors to date. Because the CERF is entirely dependent on voluntary contributions, OCHA urges more Governments, members of the private sector and individuals to donate to the CERF.

The twelve members of the Advisory Group are:

- Catherine Bragg, Director General of the Humanitarian Assistance and Peace and Security Division of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA);

- Barbara Carby, Director General of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management of Jamaica;

- P.G. Dhar Chakrabati, Executive Director of the National Institute of Disaster Management of India;

- Ahmed El-Kholei, Professor of Urban Planning in the Department of Architecture of the University of Menolia in Egypt;

- Marika Fahlen, Special Envoy/Advisor on the Horn of Africa for the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

- Gregory C. Gottlieb, Acting Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA);

- Jemilah Mahmood, President of the Malaysian Medical Relief Society;

- Michael Mosselmans, Head of the Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Department of the Department for International Development (DFID) in the United Kingdom;

- Sipho George Nene, Deputy Director-General of the Multilateral Branch of the Department for Foreign Affairs of South Africa;

- Elisabeth Kraakaas Rasmusson, Representative of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Geneva, Switzerland;

- Park Soo-Gil, President of the United Nations Association of the Republic of Korea;

- Ruud Treffers, Director General for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

Additionally, four alternates have been appointed:

- Tom Arnold, Chief Executive of Concern Worldwide;

- Simon Mechale, Director General of the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission of Ethiopia;

- Mati Raidma, Director General of the Estonian Rescue Board;

- Ronald J. Waldman, Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in the United States.

For further information, please call: Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 9262; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570.