Appointment of the Fifth SG’s Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Group
14 March 2018, New York - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed today the members of the fifth Advisory Group of his Peacebuilding Fund. The membership is gender-balanced and geographically diverse.
The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) is the organization’s financial instrument of first resort to sustain peace in countries or situations at risk or affected by violent conflict.
From 2006 to 2017, the PBF has allocated $772 million to forty-one recipient countries. Since inception, fifty-eight Member States contributed to the Fund, thirty-three in the present 2017-2019 Strategic Plan. The PBF works across pillars and supports integrated UN responses to fill critical gaps; respond quickly and with flexibility to political opportunities; and catalyze processes and resources in a risk-tolerant fashion.
The Advisory Group provides advice and oversight on the allocations, programming and policies of the Peacebuilding Fund. The Group provides important inputs and ideas on how financing can support and strengthen the efforts of the United Nations towards sustaining peace.
As set in the Fund’s Terms of Reference adopted by the General Assembly, the Secretary-General appoints ten outstanding individuals with a proven track record in peacebuilding taking into consideration gender and regional balance. The Secretary-General may also reconduct the tenure of up to two members from the previous Group. Candidates are nominated by Member States. The Secretary-General considered thirty-eight nominations from twenty-three Member States.
The Secretary-General appointed the following:
Amb. Anne Anderson (Ireland), former Ambassador to the United States; Amb. Liberata Mulamula (Tanzania), Former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation; Amb. Gert Rosenthal, (Guatemala) Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Amb. Hanns Heinrich Schumacher (Germany), former Permanent Representative to the office of the UN in Geneva; Mr. Johannes Oljelund (Sweden), Director-General for International Development Cooperation at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Ms. Ilwad Elman (Somalia), Director of Programs & Development at the Elman Peace Centre; Ms. Torunn Tryggestad (Norway), Deputy Director at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo.Ms. Mariska van Beijnum (The Netherlands), Head of the Clingendael Conflict Research Unit; Mr. Stefan Dercon (United Kingdom), Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Economics Department, and a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford; Mr. Shinichi Iida (Japan), Minister of Public Diplomacy and Media, Embassy of Japan in the United Kingdom.
The Secretary-General also takes this opportunity to express his gratitude to the members of the fourth Advisory Group who ended their tenure in January 2018 for their advice and support which has considerably strengthened the impact of the Fund globally.