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CERF Newsletter Oct 2009

Countries
Burkina Faso
+ 20 more
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

UN Secretary-General appoints new members to CERF Advisory Group

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of seven new members of the Advisory Group for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

The members include government officials from countries that have contributed to or received funding from CERF, representatives of humanitarian non-governmental organizations, and academic experts. The sixteenmember CERF Advisory Group provides the Secretary- General with expert advice on the use and impact of the Fund through the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes.

The new Advisory Group members are:

- Ms. Luz Amanda Pulido, Director of the Risk Management Department of the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, Colombia.

- Ms. Satu Helinä Lassila, Senior Advisor of the Unit for Humanitarian Assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland.

- Mr. Silvano Langa, Senior Advisor to the Minister of the State Administration, Mozambique.

- Ms. Janina Ochojska, Founder and Head of Polska Akcja Humanitarna, Poland.

- Brigadier General Abdullah Muhammad Alsuwedi, General Manager of the General Directorate of Civil Defense and General Coordinator of the Permanent Emergency Committee, Qatar.

- Ms. Elena Madrazo, Director of the Agency for International Aid and Development (AECID), Spain.

- Mr. Jon C. Brause, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States.

These newly-appointed members will begin their term at the upcoming Advisory Group meeting on 2 and 3 November. Member States will have another opportunity to nominate experts in mid-2010.

CERF adds two first-time contributors

Slovakia and Venezuela became first-time contributors to CERF in September, with donations of US$10,000 and $5,000, respectively. So far in 2009, 13 Member States, two private companies and one NGO have made contributions to CERF for the first time. Overall, 75 Member States, together with six other public and private donors, have pledged or contributed $393 million to CERF in 2009.

Country allocations and highlights for September 2009

In September, CERF provided more than $8.4 million for emergency assistance to relief agencies working in Guatemala, Niger and Sudan.

Guatemala

Guatemala has the highest rate of malnutrition in Latin America, with 50 percent of all children suffering from chronic malnutrition. The situation has been exacerbated in recent months by prolonged drought caused by El Niño. The country is facing its worse food crisis in recent years, with additional crop losses anticipated by the end of 2009. This prompted the Government of Guatemala to declare a state of emergency and seek urgent humanitarian assistance from the international community.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.