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.

Why "Standby“?

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.

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”.

Training cooperation within the Standby Partnership Network

ZIF provides financial and organisational support for OCHA trainings that take place in Berlin. OCHA employees and OCHA partner organisations participate in the trainings.

Experts from the ZIF Expert Pool who are qualified in the field of humanitarian deployments have the opportunity to take part in the specialised courses conducted by OCHA and other standby partner organisations. Members of the ZIF Expert Pool can find the current training courses here.

Commitment of the Federal Foreign Office to humanitarian assistance

The German Federal Foreign Office supports the expansion of ZIF’s humanitarian standby partnerships and the OCHA training partnership. Learn more about the Federal Foreign Office’s strategy for humanitarian assistance abroad here.