UN Secretary-General appoints new members to the Central Emergency Response Fund’s Advisory Group

(New York, 20 September 2011): United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of 6 new members to the Advisory Group of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Twelve of the Group’s eighteen members will continue to serve, helping to preserve the Advisory Group’s institutional memory.

The CERF’s Advisory Group provides policy guidance and expert advice on the use and impact of the CERF through the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, who manages day-to-day operations of the Fund on behalf of the Secretary-General.

Members of the Advisory Group serve in their individual capacity, rather than as representatives of their countries or governments. They include government officials from contributing and recipient countries, representatives of humanitarian non-governmental organizations, and academic experts, carefully selected on the basis of their humanitarian expertise, as well as geographical and gender balance.

Since it was launched in 2006, the CERF has allocated nearly $2.2 billion for UN agencies and the International Organization for Migration to assist the most vulnerable in sudden-onset disasters and neglected emergencies worldwide. Eighty-three countries and the occupied Palestinian territory have benefited from funding from the CERF.

One hundred and twenty-three Member States and observers, as well as scores of private individuals and organizations, have contributed more than $2.4 billion to the CERF since its inception.