Stand-by Partners (SBP) are organizations, including Government Agencies, NGOs and commercial companies, who have signed an agreement with WFP to maintain a roster of rapidly deployable staff and equipment to support WFP emergency operations, namely in order to meet surge capacity at the onset of an emergency.

Stand-by Partners provide:

• A roster/register of personnel with specialized competencies
• Equipment/Service Packages not normally maintained by WFP (ie base camps, truck fleets, de-mining equipment)
• Augmenting WFP’s response to emergencies remains the core business of Stand-by Partners, with deployments normally ranging between 3 to 6 months. Called forward when WFP is in need of additional capacity, this extra support is required when:
• WFP needs to rapidly and/or temporarily increase staffing levels (such as during an emergency response) and does not have sufficient in-house surge-capacity to meet the operational requirements
• WFP needs particular technical skills for a limited period only. The technical skills are normally ones which WFP does not have in-house, such as engineers, railway experts, mine action experts, specific IT profiles, protection experts etc.
• Since 2008, over 650 stand-by partner deployments have strengthened WFP’s emergency response operations in over 40 countries.