Standby Partnership
The Standby Partnership (SBP) is a network of bilateral agreements between organisations and the United Nations (UN). MSB has such partnerships with several UN agencies.
The partnership commenced in 1991 as part of the response to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. The need for the UN to mobilise experts and equipment rapidly surpassed the UN’s own capacity, which resulted in support from other organisations, such as MSB.
Strengthens the work of the UN
Today, the SBP comprises a dozen non-governmental organisations, governmental agencies and private companies, which provide support to the UN responding to crisis and conflicts throughout the world via the secondment of gratis personnel. MSB contributes with seconded experts to the UN in most major humanitarian emergencies, usually on short notice. This includes coordinators, information management experts, engineers, IT and radio-communication experts, structural engineers and others. The purpose of the support is to strengthen the UN in effective and life-saving operations for the population affected by a natural disaster or conflict.
The organisations who are members of the SBP network meet annually to improve the system by, among other things, strengthening the coordination within the network, carry out joint training programmes and share best practices.
Support through the SBP to the UN is mobilised jointly with more than 1,100 experts annually.