Standby Partnership Network, The
Mission
Standby Partnerships provides surge capacity support to United Nations (UN) Agencies responding to humanitarian emergencies through the secondment of gratis/in-kind “experts on mission” by partner organisations. Standby Partnerships function through a series of bilateral agreements between participating UN Agencies, Funds, Offices and Programmes and deploying organisations (Standby Partners) that are composed of a diverse group of NGOs, government agencies, donors, private sector organisations, foundations and intergovernmental bodies.
Standby Partnerships began during the first Iraq war in 1991, when the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency (MCF, formerly MSB) responded to a request for surge personnel from UNHCR.
More than 30 years on, Standby Partnerships have expanded considerably by gaining new participating UN Agencies, Funds, Offices and Programmes and Standby Partners. Standby Partnerships now respond to over 1,000 requests for technical experts yearly, and deploy in more than 100 countries. The contribution to UN emergency responses represents between USD70-90 million in a given year.
Voluntary Commitments
The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.