NEEDS ASSESSMENTS

6 NEEDS ASSESSMENTS

6.1     OVERVIEW AND FUNCTION

Needs assessments are data-collection and analysis exercises conducted at a single point in time, providing a snapshot of the condition of the affected population, including protection issues, availability of resources, the context as well as the sources of problems and their impact on the affected population. Their purpose is to identify protection needs, risks, and solutions in order to inform programme interventions and response activities complementary with positive community coping mechanisms and existing resources.

To be effective, assessments must be joint or harmonised and engage all relevant actors in a sustained multi-stakeholder collaboration, from  planning to analysis to dissemination. In addition, they must build on existing knowledge and data to avoid duplication and reduce the risks and burdens to those involved.

Needs assessments are key to ensuring:

• Humanitarian assistance and protection is both rights-based and needs-based.

• Humanitarian assistance and protection promotes and does not undermine safe local coping mechanisms and capacities.

• The respective needs of different population groups are identified and understood (for example: age, sex to socio-economic factors and other issues).

• Decisions regarding humanitarian assistance and protection are based on verifiable information.

Although information and data may be complementary, needs assessments are different from  monitoring systems as these are intended to continuously collect information on affected areas and people to track changes and trends over time.

Needs assessments gather and analyse both quantitative and qualitative information on the  condition of the affected population (protection threats, capacity, vulnerabilities) at a specific time and place (as defined by the scope and scale of the assessment) and provide info on:

• Protection risks, threats, and vulnerabilities.

• Needs related to the condition of the affected populations.

• Existing capacities and coping strategies.

• Severity of conditions faced by different groups within the population.

6.2 HOW-TO GUIDE

Detailed information and guidance on conducting and coordinating needs assessments is available in the UNHCR Needs Assessment Handbook (August 2017) and the supporting toolkit (available at: needsassesment.unhcr. org).

The Handbook describes UNHCR’s roles in the coordination of humanitarian needs assessments and offers practical guidance on how to conduct needs assessments and analysis for informed decision-making and needs-based response planning. The Needs Assessment Handbook is structured in two parts. The first - recommended for all audiences - provides guidance on different types of assessments, outlines the principles guiding all assessment activities, sets out UNHCR’s roles and responsibilities in different situations, and provides an overview of the steps to conduct needs assessments.

The second part of the Handbook provides detailed practical guidance on how to conduct needs assessments in the field. It can be used as a reference text, with readers referring to specific steps and sections as needed based on their role in the operation or the needs assessment, and the type of situation.

6.2.1 When to conduct a needs assessment

Needs assessments are appropriate and recommended when:

• A new crisis has emerged.

• A sudden and/or substantial change happens in an existing crisis.

• Contingency planning is being undertaken.

• Change in policy, political environment or funding  provides new opportunities and additional information is required.

There are three different degrees of coordination for assessments: joint, harmonized or uncoordinated as detailed in the chart below:

Note: Definitions used in the above chart are from the, ‘IASC Operational Guidance for Coordinated Assessment in Humanitarian Emergencies’ (March 2012).

Needs assessment should be carried out periodically and after substantial changes in the context.

6.3 UNHCR roles and responsibilities

The Needs Assessment Handbook provides guidance on the core coordination models by context, along with guidance on the specific roles of UNHCR staff in preparation for, during or after an assessment as outlined in brief below.

6.3.1 UNHCR Representative

The UNHCR Representative should assume overall responsibility for assessments and take appropriate measures to demonstrate effective leadership in coordinated assessments:

• have a comprehensive cross-sectoral assessment strategy;

• dedicate resources (financial and staff, including: Protection, Programme and IM colleagues) to strengthen needs assessment planning and response;

• coordinate with the government and local authorities;

• focus on conducting intra and inter-agency joint and/or harmonized assessments where possible;

• actively participate in assessment coordination fora chaired by OCHA in IDP situations;

• host inter-agency assessment coordination working groups in refugee situations.

6.3.2 UNHCR Protection staff

UNHCR Protection staff have a  key role to play in assessments:

• working with Programme, and IM colleagues to undertake a comprehensive desk review and the development of an assessment strategy for their operation; including making use of existing data to avoid over-assessment and duplication;

• identifying what data and information is sensitive in the operation context, and promoting appropriate measures to adhere to Protection Information Management and data protection principles;

• leading specific assessments, including protection assessments in IDP and refugee settings and specific, protection-focused participatory assessment exercises, including those relating to sensitive issues such as child protection, SGBV, and vulnerable groups;

• training and sensitizing data collectors and stakeholders on safe and ethical protection principles and good practices;

• participating in conducting intra and inter-agency joint and/or harmonized assessments where possible; including in assessment coordination fora chaired by OCHA in IDP situations;

• identifying protection proxy indicators in other sectors’ assessment data;

• advocating for the systematic inclusion of protection-related questions (including coping mechanisms and community capacities) into needs assessment methodologies.

6.3.3 UNHCR Programme staff

UNHCR Programme staff have the most important role in the assessment process, particularly when they are part of the regular programme cycle. Core tasks should include:

• initiating and managing joint assessment processes to support annual (and multi-year) programme processes;

• working with protection, technical and information and data management colleagues in the development of a comprehensive assessment strategy and an analytical framework to support assessment processes;

• coordinating with technical staff to ensure efficient use of resources, information and timing with specific sectoral assessments;

• ensuring assessment results and data are shared between staff and with partners and affected populations;

• providing response and programme monitoring data for secondary data reviews, including making use of other organization’s secondary data to avoid duplication and identify gaps;

• linking assessment results and findings to budget prioritization, response planning, and programming.

6.3.4 UNHCR Information Management Officers

UNHCR information and data management staff are essential to improved needs assessments, providing technical and practical support.

• collaborating with Programme and Protection colleagues in the development of a comprehensive assessment strategy;.Facilitating the consolidation of  existing data sources to avoid over-assessment and duplication;

• providing technical standardization and information management support, particularly on how needs assessments should be designed and undertaken to respect protection information management principles;

• supporting the design of data collation, collection tools, sampling frameworks, data storage systems, and joint analysis;

• generating data visualization products, including dashboards, infographics, and maps;

• coordinating with other agencies’ or clusters’ information management officers around assessments;

• facilitate the development of an analytical framework to help organize the operation for analysis;

• supporting intra- and inter-agency joint and/or harmonized assessments where possible;

• actively participating in technical assessment coordination fora chaired by OCHA in IDP situations;

• training the data collectors/enumerators on data management practices and responsibilities;

• sharing needs assessment data as appropriate (UNHCR web portal at http://data.unhcr.org (for refugee situations), www.humanitarianresponse.org (for cluster situations); when possible, collecting primary data for needs assessments on mobile devices instead of paper, using UNHCR’s dedicated Kobo server (at http://kobo.unhcr.org).

6.4 NEEDS ASSESSMENT PROCESS

The design of an assessment will be affected by numerous factors. These may include the level of humanitarian access, whether population movements are stable or dynamic, the amount of time and resources available for the needs assessment, and the types of interventions that might be made as a result of the needs assessment.

For in depth guidance on how to conduct a needs assessment, along with other details on the below process, please refer to the UNHCR Needs Assessment Handbook.

Illustrated below is the process for designing and conducting a needs assessment: