The Standby Partnership Programme (SBPP) provides surge capacity support to United Nations agencies responding to humanitarian emergencies, through the deployment of standby personnel. Each Standby Partner (SBP) maintains its own roster of humanitarian experts, who can quickly deploy to fill emergency staffing needs and gaps in UN operations.

The collaboration between UN agencies and SBPs is an integral component of any rapid response mechanism. Participant UN organisations include: FAO, IOM, OCHA, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHABITAT, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNWomen, UNRWA, WFP and WHO. There are over 40 participants governmental and non-governmental Standby Partners, including CANADEM – Canada’s Civilian Reserve, Care Australia, DEMA – Danish Emergency Management Agency, DFID – UK Department for International Development, DRC – Danish Refugee Council, Ericsson Response, Finn Church Aid, ICRU – Icelandic Crisis Response Unit, iMMAP – Information Management and Mine Action Programs, International Medical Corps, iMMAP, Irish Aid, MapAction, Norwegian Church Aid, MSB – Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, NRC – Norwegian Refugee Council, Qatar Charity, RedR Australia, SDC/HA – Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, White Helmets-Argentina, and ZIF – Center for International Peace Operations.

Since the beginning in 1991, the Partnership has evolved through a bilateral partner to agency collaboration, discussion within smaller groups of like-minded partners, and participation in the Annual Consultations (AC) during the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week.