United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the appointment of the twelve members of the Advisory Group for the new Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) on 28 April 2006.

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 held its first meeting in New York on 23 May 2006.

Marika Fahlen (Chair)
- Special Envoy/Advisor on the Horn of Africa for the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Toril Brekke
- Deputy Head of the International Department of the Norwegian Refugee Council

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

P.G. Dhar Chakrabarti
- 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

Gregory C. Gottlieb
- Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance 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

Moazzam Malik
- 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

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