Humanitarian deployments
Wars and crises, famines and natural disasters, refugee movements and protracted conflicts – around the world, there is an increasing need for humanitarian assistance. We make a contribution by providing experts to work with UN humanitarian partner organisations.
What are humanitarian deployments?
Humanitarian assistance provides a broad range of services: From logistical tasks such as the transport of relief supplies, to water and sanitation management in refugee shelters, to the analysis of humanitarian data and the coordination of relief operations. In crises and post-conflict countries, humanitarian organisations and peace operations often work hand in hand.
We support UN humanitarian organisations in carrying out these tasks by providing them with qualified “standby personnel” for humanitarian operations at short notice.
The term “standby” denotes readiness, and in this context describes the necessary quick response and flexibility required by ZIF and its experts to be able to respond at short notice to personnel needs in humanitarian operations.
We deploy experts to ongoing humanitarian operations that have an increased demand for personnel, or to humanitarian crisis operations with an acute or short-term demand.
The participation of members of the ZIF Expert Pool takes place on the basis of specific deployment agreements between ZIF and UN partner organisations that are part of the Standby Partnership Network.
The ZIF Expert Pool consists of pre-selected and pre-qualified personnel who are available for an assignment. Experts accepted into the ZIF Expert Pool are eligible for deployment in three different areas: peace operations, humanitarian deployments and election observation missions. You can apply for the area of humanitarian deployments in the ZIF Expert Pool here.
©UN Women (Asia and the Pacific)/Allison Joyce
What is the Standby Partnership Network?
The Standby Partnership Network is an association of United Nations, international governmental and non-governmental organisations that aim to provide qualified personnel for humanitarian operations at short notice. The partners in this network also work at the conceptual level, exchanging views on specialised topics, setting guidelines and training standards and utilising shared resources.
Our Engagement in the Standby Partnership Network
ZIF as a member of the Standby Partnership Network
ZIF has been actively involved in the Standby Partnership Network since 2011 and has been working closely with OCHA, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In humanitarian crisis regions, OCHA supports humanitarian organisations and promotes coherent action by all actors. In September 2020, we signed a Standby Partnership agreement with the World Food Programme (WFP), the world's largest humanitarian organization. WFP supplies food to people in humanitarian emergencies, e.g. after natural disasters or violent conflicts, and is committed to a world without hunger. In September 2021, we signed another Standby Partnership agreement with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). UNHCR protects and supports internally displaced persons and people fleeing persecution, war and violence. In June 2022, we signed a Standby Partnership agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO plays a central role in dealing with global health crises and ensuring basic health care in conflict and crisis areas. On February 3, 2023, ZIF signed its fifth Standby Partnership Agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF advocates for the rights and well-being of children and youth in over 190 countries worldwide, in both humanitarian crisis and development contexts. The sixth Standby Partnership Agreement was concluded with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in December 2023. IOM is an intergovernmental organization that works in the areas of migration coordination, protection of migrants' rights and and humanitarian support in emergencies.
The SBP Response Dashboard shows the various humanitarian deployments within the network – including those of ZIF. To gain deeper insights into the different deployments of ZIF, please select Center for International Peace Operations under “Roster Agency”.
Commitment of the Federal Foreign Office to humanitarian assistance
The Federal Foreign Office supports the expansion of ZIF's humanitarian standby partnerships as well as the UN training partnerships. Learn more about the Federal Foreign Office's strategy for humanitarian assistance abroad here.
Contact
Rasmus Stern
Anna Meral Berns
Lisa Martin
Constantin Treisch
On Your Way to a Humanitarian Operation
If you apply for admission to the ZIF Expert Pool and have relevant humanitarian expertise, you can deploy with ZIF to a UN partner organisation. We offer
- Professional pre-deployment preparation,
- Comprehensive support before, during and after deployment, and
- An employment contract in accordance with German labour laws for the duration of your deployment with a UN partner organisation.