Seventh Advisory Group of the Peacebuilding Fund

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed the members of the seventh Advisory Group of the Peacebuilding Fund in August 2022. The membership is gender-balanced and geographically diverse. 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 UN towards peacebuilding and sustaining peace.

The members are:

Professor Emmanuel Asante, former Chairperson of the National Peace Council, Ghana.
H.E. Mr. Jingye Cheng, Ambassador (ret.), China.
Ms. Kjersti Dale, Head of Humanitarian Principles and International Humanitarian Law, Norwegian Red Cross, Norway.
H.E. Mr. Mohamed Edrees, Ambassador (ret.), Egypt.
H.E. Ms. Lise Filiatrault, Ambassador (ret.), Canada. @AmbFiliatrault
H.E. Mr. Macharia Kamau, Ambassador and Special Envoy, East Africa Community Facilitator on DRC, former President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya. @AmbMKamau
Ms. Sara Pantuliano, Chief Executive, ODI (formerly the Overseas Development Institute), United Kingdom. @SaraPantuliano
H.E. Mr. Stéphane Rey, Ambassador of Switzerland to Zimbabwe, Zambia & Malawi, Switzerland. @stephanereynyc
H.E. Ms. Marriët Schuurman, Ambassador, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Israel . @MarrietS
Ms. Almut Wieland-Karimi, former Executive Director, Center for International Peace Operations, Germany.

Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Group

Mr. Emmanuel Asante

Former Chairman, Ghana National Peace Council

The Most Rev. Professor Asante is a Ghanaian academic, theologian and minister of religion. He is the current Chairman of the National Africa Peer Review Mechanism, Ghana Council (NARPM-GC).He served as the 3rd Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, The Christian Council of Ghana, and completed two terms as the Chairman of the National Peace Council of Ghana.

Mr. Jingye Cheng

Ambassador (ret.) China

Mr. Cheng is a senior Chinese diplomat. His most recent assignment was China’s Ambassador to Australia. Before that, he served as the Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations at Vienna. Early on, Mr. Cheng was the Director-General of the Arms Control Department in the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Disarmament Ambassador in Geneva respectively. He was also posted twice in the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations and held posts in the International Organizations Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Ms. Kjersti Dale

Head of humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law, Norwegian Red Cross

Ms. Dale is the Head of humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law at Norwegian Red Cross. She brings almost 20 years of experience in the humanitarian sector and has worked for the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and civil society. From 2011 to 2014 Ms. Dale worked for the World Food Program’s Somalia operations. She was also a delegate with the ICRC in Angola and the Ivory Coast between 2005 and 2007. Since 2016 she has been a member of CARE International’s Strategic Leadership Team for Program Quality and Impact. Ms. Dale is currently a member of the board of United NationsAssociation of Norway.

Mr. Mohamed Edrees

Ambassador (ret.), Egypt

Mr. Edrees is a former Physician who graduated in the College of Medicine Cairo University in 1983, joined the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1987, and acquired a Master’s degree in Political Science from SOAS University of London in 1989. He perused a diversified diplomatic career, serving in the Departments of Policy Planning, US and Canada, Cabinet of the Foreign Minister, International Economic Relations, Arab Affairs, and assumed the position of Assistant Foreign Minister for African Affairs. His Foreign Diplomatic posts included the Egyptian Embassies in the USA, Turkey, Syria and the Mission to the UN in NY. He served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus, DPR of Egypt to the UN in NY, Ambassador of Egypt to Ethiopia and PR to the AU and UN ECA and PR of Egypt to the UN in NY.

Ms. Lise FILIATRAULT

Ambassador (ret.), Canada

Ambassador Filiatrault was the Ambassador of Canada to Senegal from 2016 to 2019, also accredited to Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinee, and Guinee-Bissau. The Prime Minister of Canada, The Right Honorable Justin Trudeau, nominated her as his Personal Representative for La Francophonie from April 2017 to June 2019. Positions she held during her Diplomatic career included Assistant deputy Minister for Sub-Saharan Africa Branch from 2013- 2016. Director-General for the Americas Bureau from 2019 to 2013, and Director General for the Europe, the Middle East and Maghreb Bureau from 2009 to 2010.

Mr. Macharia Kamau

Amb. and Special Envoy of the East Africa Community Facilitator on DRC, former President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya

Mr. Kamau is also a Senior Advisor to the group president and Managing Director of the Trade Development Bank Group, TDB. Ambassador Kamau is a Commissioner at the International Science Council, ISC, based in Paris, France, and a Board Member of the Equity Group Bank Foundation among other advisory and board responsibilities. Previously, he served as the Special Envoy of the United Nation’s Secretary General on El Niño and Climate 2015/16 and separately as the Special Envoy of the President of the UN General Assembly on Sustainability 2016/17. Ambassador Kamau had a long career of 24 years with several United Nations organizations, including as UNICEF Representative and UNDP/UN Resident Coordinator and 9 years serving as plenipotentiary Ambassador for KENYA to the United Nations both in Nairobi and the UN Headquarters in New York. He subsequently served as Principal Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, KENYA, for five years until 2022.

Ms. Sara PANTULIANO (Chair)

Chief Executive, ODI

Ms. Pantuliano is a member of UNFPA’s ICPD25 High-Level Commission and also serves on the High-Level Group on Humanitarian Resilience and Investing and the Digital Currency Governance Consortium Steering Committee of the World Economic Forum (WEF). She is the Managing Editor of Disasters journal and a Trustee of Muslim Aid. Ms. Pantuliano previously led a high-profile UN response in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, acted as an observer at the IGAD Sudan peace process and lectured at the University of Dar es Salaam. She was a member of the Independent Team of Advisers established in 2016 by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to formulate recommendations on the reform of the UN development system. She holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies and has written extensively on conflict and humanitarian affairs. Sara was appointed as Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) for services to peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance and international development.

Mr. Stephane REY

Ambassador of Switzerland to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi

Mr. Rey's prior roles included Head of peace policy and programs in the State Secretariat of Foreign Affairs, Acting Head of the Peace and Human Rights Division, as well as Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland in Iran. Mr Rey also led the Political Affairs, Peace & Security team at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN in New York, where he chaired the Group of Friends of the Protection of Civilians, and deputy head of the UN Security Council and political affairs unit in Bern. Prior to joining the Swiss foreign ministry, he worked as a policy officer at UN Headquarters in New York and as an InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross delegate in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.

Ms. Marriet SCHUURMAN

Ambassador, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Israel

Ms. Schuurman previously served as the Director of the Department of Stability and Humanitarian Aid for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before that she was the Human Rights Ambassador of the Ministry in 2019. Head of the Task Force for the Dutch membership of the UN Security Council in 2018. NATO Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security from 2014 to 2017 and as the Dutch Ambassador to the Republic of North Macedonia from 2011 to 2014. Previous assignments for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs include postings in Sudan, Zambia and the Russian Federation as well as policy advise and coordiantion positions in the Ministry's Sub-Sahara Africa Department and Humanitaian Aid division.

Ms. Almut Wieland-Karimi

Former Executive Director, Center for International Peace Operations, Germany

Ms. Wieland-Karimi was Executive Director of the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) from 2009 till 2022. Prior to joining ZIF, she worked for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in various countries, as country director for the U.S. and Canada based in Washington, D.C. In 2002, she set up the FES country office in Kabul/ Afghanistan. Ms. Wieland-Karimi is Advisory Board member of the Stiftung Mercator. She holds a Master’s degree in Oriental Studies from Bonn University and a PhD. in the same field, with a thesis on the role of religious leaders in modern Afghan politics at Humboldt University Berlin.