Chairman of the National Peace Council, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante has been appointed as a member of the Sixth Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Group by the United Nations.

The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund 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 Fund approved a total of $772 million to 41 recipient countries, and from 2017 to 2019, it scaled up its commitments by approving $531 million for 51 countries.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres made the appointment on Thursday, May 28.

Candidates of the Fund Advisory Group are nominated by Member States, including countries contributing to the Fund.

Consistent with the Terms of Reference of the Peacebuilding Fund adopted by the General Assembly, ten eminent individuals are appointed by the Secretary-General for a term of two years, taking into consideration gender and regional balance.

Members of the Sixth Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Group include H.E. Ms. Anne Anderson, Ambassador (ret.), Ireland; H.E. Ms. Lise Filiatrault, Ambassador (ret.), Canada; H.E. Ms. Liberata Mulamula, Ambassador (ret.), Tanzania; Mr. Johannes Oljelund, Director-General for International Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden; Ms. Sara Pantuliano, Chief Executive, Overseas Development Institute, United Kingdom.

The rest of them are Mr. Stéphane Rey, Head of Peace Policy, Deputy Head of the Human Security Division, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland; and H.E. Mr. Gert Rosenthal, Ambassador (ret.), Guatemala. The rest are H.E. Mr. Hanns Heinrich Schumacher, Ambassador (ret.), Germany; and Ms. Marriët Schuurman, Director, Department of Stability and Humanitarian Aid, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands.

According to the peacekeeping body, the Peacebuilding Fund is intended to support programming that needs to be started quickly and flexibly where requested.

The Peacebuilding Fund’s target for the years 2020- 2024 is to bolster the fund with a sum of $1.5 billion in financing for peacebuilding in the international community.