Needs Assessment in Disaster Situations
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Guiding principles : covering the principles of good assessment practice, as well as some technical assessment concepts and terminology
Assessment planning : including community participation, the design of joint assessment tools, the collation of other assessment information, coordination with local authorities, effective targeting of data collection, managing the beneficiary expectation gap, logistics, involvement of the media, baseline data collection, and assessment team training and simulations.
Designing needs assessments : specificity, measurability, achievability, relevance, timeliness, cross-cutting issues, and reinforcing links between humanitarian, early recovery, damage impact and other post-disaster assessements.
Tools for Disaster Needs Assessment : useful multi-sector tools for rapid needs assessment, an outline of other initiatives in diasaster needs assessment.
Needs Assessment Data Collection : secondary data collection, observation, key informant and group interviews, selected tools for data collection and practicing data collection techniques.
Analysis : Presenting data as useful information, data vs information, the Information Management Cycle, using key messages to deliver your information, and how to use graphs, maps and other visual aids to support your assessment findings.
OCHA Needs Assessment Training Packages : overview, target audience, logistics and course development, course outline and course materials, and other useful documents. Training courses are included in both French and English.
Some Further Initiatives in Needs Assessment : information on other initiatves currently underway in the needs assessment field.
The menu on the left provides quick links to each of these topics.