Humanitarian Deployments 2023: Consultations of the Standby Partnership Network

Mid December, 54 representatives from 25 partner organizations of the Standby Partnership (SBP) network met in Rome to discuss their collaboration in 2023 in the face of growing humanitarian needs. The consultations underscored the importance of close collaboration between sending agencies and UN partners to both fill in the short-term critical personnel gaps and ensure the standards and sustainability of humanitarian deployments.

Through the network, a mechanism has been supported since 1991 through which UN partner organizations can quickly request experts to support their humanitarian interventions from sending agencies such as ZIF. Humanitarian deployments take place through bilateral agreements. ZIF currently has such agreements with UNOCHA, UNHCR, WFP and WHO. During the meeting, Sebastian Dworack moderated the discussion on governance of the network. Rasmus Stern prepared new secondment agreements with SBP partners IOM and UNICEF to be signed in 2023.