United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed twelve members and four alternates of the Advisory Group for the new CERF on 28 April 2006. The CERF Advisory Group is established, as an independent body, to provide periodic policy guidance and expert advice to the Secretary-General on the use and impact of the Fund.

This includes reviewing the timeliness and appropriateness of fund allocations, examining fund management and administration and assessing fund performance based on the objectives set by the General Assembly. The Advisory Group may also make recommendations on fund levels and replenishment.

The CERF Advisory Group held its first meeting in New York on 23 May 2006 and its second meeting in Geneva on 12 October 2006. Click here for more information on the activities of the CERF Advisory Group in 2006.

In 2007, the Advisory Group met on 23 and 24 May in New York and on 25 and 26 October 2007 in Geneva. The next meeting is in Geneva on 23 and 24 June 2008.

On 15 May 2007, the Secretary-General appointed Ms. Toril Brekke, Deputy Head of the International Department of the Norwegian Refugee Council, to replace Ms. Elisabeth Kraakaas Rasmusson for the remainder of the two-year period. Catherine Bragg, Director General of the Humanitarian Assistance and Peace and Security Division of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), submitted her resignation in December of 2007.

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

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

Click here for the CERF Advisory Group Archive

[Last Update: 26 June 2007]