Marjatta Rasi named to the leadership of United Nations Peacebuilding Fund

Press release 165/2007
5 September, 2007

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has today appointed Marjatta Rasi, Under-Secretary of State responsible for international development cooperation and development policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, to serve as chair of the Advisory Group to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. The purpose of the new Fund is to support post-conflict peacebuilding initiatives. Under-Secretary of State Rasi will take care of this two-year position of trust alongside her official post at the Ministry.

The ten-person Advisory Group monitors the performance and administration of the Fund’s aid operations. The Advisory Group will hold its first meeting on Thursday, 6 September. The meeting will address the UN Secretary-General’s report on the Peacebuilding Fund’s operations and will discuss recommendations for improving the Fund’s operations. United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro will also take part in the meeting.

The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund was established in 2006. Finland has allocated 1.6 million euros to the Fund during its first operating year. The Fund’s capital has accrued according to objectives: by July, 34 states had pledged a total of 226 million dollars to the Fund.

So far the United Nations  Peacebuilding Fund has supported security, democracy and human rights projects mainly in Burundi and Sierra Leone, which are the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission’s first target countries. In August the Peacebuilding Fund also granted emergency aid for a meeting of the parties to peace negotiations for Burkina Faso.

Additional information: Ari Mäki, Advisor to the Under-Secretary of State, tel. +358 9 1605 6402, +358 40 842 7594; and Second Secretary Juha Mustonen, Department for Global Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 5187