Overview

The Standby Partnership (SBP) Programme is comprised of a diverse collection of NGOs, donors, and government agencies who have bilateral Memorandums of Agreement (MOU) with UN organizations, including IOM. The former group makes up the Standby Partners (SBPs) who, based on the MOU, can provide standby personnel when a request is made by IOM to fill a specific staffing gap or to complement our response team already on the ground.

IOM currently has MOUs with fourteen standby partners: CANADEM; Danish Refugee Council (DRC); Department of Foreign Affair, Ireland (DFA/Irish Aid); Emergency.lu (Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs); U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); Groundwater Relief (GWR); IMMAP; Netherlands Enterprise Agency - Dutch Surge Support (RVO - DSS Water); Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC); RedR Australia; Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB); SwissAgency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); DG ECHO - European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM); White Helmets Commission, Argentina.

During their deployment, standby personnel are employed and contracted by the SBP but are on "loan" to IOM as in-kind contribution to undertake short-term assignments, usually intended to last up to six-months, although longer term deployments are considered by SBPs depending on the context. During their tenure with IOM, standby personnel are expected to take on an IOM identity and are incorporated into the IOM team.

SBP support should be seen as complementary to other existing sources of preparedness and should not be used to replace poor staff planning. When IOM makes a standby personnel request to an SBP, several criteria are considered by the SBP as to whether or not they can meet the request. Criteria may vary among the SBPs, but in general a request form is required to be completed, which includes a brief justification for why IOM is requesting a position and how IOM plans to fill the position once the standby personnel's deployment is completed. Cost-sharing by the requesting IOM Country Office can be an option if an SBP has the profile requested but doesn't have the funds needed for the deployment.

Key Considerations

There are numerous expert profiles our SBPs can assist in filling. Past areas of expertise have included, inter alia, the following: camp coordination and camp management (CCCM); emergency shelter; site planning; information management; cluster/sector coordination; geographic information systems (GIS); Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); protection; logistics; disaster risk reduction; and, early recovery.

The aforementioned areas are a few of the top profiles requested by IOM to date, but other expert areas that SBPs can provide include, among others: accountability to affected population; gender-based violence (GBV); land and property issues; capacity-building; and cash and market.

To make a request, the Country Office must fill out the request form and send it along with a Post Description/TOR to the IOM SBP programme focal point. Example TORs are available in the TORs and Deployment Options entry.

Remember that in order to avoid any duplication of work, the entire request process and the deployment, is done through IOM's SBP programme focal point who is responsible for liaising with the SBP and the IOM Country Office. The requesting Country Office must fill out a request form and include a Post Description/TOR in their request email to the IOM standby personnel focal point.

Keep in mind that the Country Office can consider cost-sharing if an SBP has the profile requested but doesn't have the funds needed for the deployment. At the end of a standby personnel's deployment or before s/he can be further extended, the Country Office must fill out a Performance Evaluation Review (PER) form and send it to the IOM standby personnel focal point.

Coordination

Within IOM's Department of Operations and Emergencies (DOE), the Preparedness and Response Division (PRD), manages and coordinates all emergency SBP requests. If you have any questions on the standby personnel process, our partnerships with SBPs and/or the IHP, please contact the SBP programme focal point or contact the PRD.

Steps in Engaging the SBP

When an IOM Country Office or Requesting Unit has a standby personnel need, the following steps should be taken:

1. Country Office must send an email with the completed and signed official request form and a Post Description/TOR to IOM's SBP programme focal point, who sits within IOM's Preparedness and Response Division (please copy your DOE RTS in the email request so that the RO is aware as well). If you need example TORs, they can be found in: TORs and Deployment Options. The request form should contain a short justification for why the position is needed.
2. The SBP programme focal point will then make an official request with our SBPs, and generally in cases of scale-up emergency responses, within one week, SBPs will revert to the focal point on whether or not they can support the request.
3. If they are able to support the request, the SBPs will provide the focal point with the appropriate candidates from their respective rosters.
4. The candidates' profiles are then forwarded on to the requesting Country Office for possible selection, where the Country Office must decide if any of the profiles fit their needs.
5. Once an outcome is reached, the Country Office must revert with their decision, and the IOM SBP programme focal point will then inform the SBP if any profiles have been selected.
6. Once the SBP confirms the acceptance of the selected SBP personnel, the on-boarding process commences and Country Office or Requesting Unit is expected to support with the administrative and logistical arrangements for the SBP personnel's deployment.

If a problem arises during a standby personnel's deployment, the IOM Country Office is to inform IOM's SBP programme focal point so that action can be taken accordingly. A similar process is followed in cases where a Country Office wants to extend a deployment.

In order to ensure the quality of the SBP personnel on loan to IOM, a performance evaluation of the standby personnel must be completed by the Country Office at the end of the deployment (or before an extension can take place). It is not uncommon for successful standby personnel to be requested for other emergency operations by IOM due to their past work with and knowledge of the Organization.

Contacts

For more information, contact the SBP Focal Point: SBP@iom.int.