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SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Documentation for Community Needs Assessment
Documentation Training for CBOs/Networks
Enhance SAMARTH projectUSAID/ FHI/ SAATHII
March 21, 2007
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Workshop Goals
Long Term: To enable you to conduct useful needs assessments that inform and lead to action that will improve programs, services, organizational structure and operations in your communities.
Short Term: To enable you to understand the nature and purpose of community needs assessment and to help you acquire a basic understanding of how to conduct a needs assessment, with a focus on documentation skills.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Wake UP!
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
What is community needs assessment?
In general, a needs assessment is a systematic way of identifying and documenting needs of a particular target community.
E.g. needs for training, income, food, medication, education, etc. that are needed by the community. Also, can included needs for sensitizing other stakeholders in order to create an enabling environment/ reduce stigma and discrimination, needs for linkages, etc.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Advantages of Community Needs Assessment
To learn more about what your community needs are. A good needs assessment can supplement your observations and experiences.
To get a more honest and objective description of needs.
To become aware of possible needs that you never thought them as particularly important or that you never even knew such needs existed.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Advantages of Community Needs Assessment (cont’d)
To get the most important data to support your efforts when advocating or lobbying for your goals. The assessment can be converted into a report which can be used for various purposes (scientific paper, media etc).
To make sure any actions you eventually get involved in are in par with the needs expressed by the community.
To get more community support for the actions that will be undertaken at the end of the assessment.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Needs Assessment Methods
1. Existing Data- Looking at information already gathered by the organization.
Get Consent from or/and acknowledge the source (to rewrite, to quote, to photograph, to publish, etc)
Can be less time consuming No need to write and test questions, etc. Provides excellent evidence of problem
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Needs Assessment Methods
2. ObservationMethod of data collection based on watching a process
Watching how PLHA are treated in a government hospital, to see if they are being discriminated against
Observing how police treat MSM in public cruising areas, to see if they are harassing MSM, using 377 etc.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Needs Assessment Methods (cont'd)
3. Interviews- active interchanges between two or more people
Get Consent from the Participants (to talk, to record, to photograph, to publish, etc)
can be conducted either face to face or via phone/email
Can generate broad and deep data about system Interviewer can clarify questions
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Needs Assessment Methods (Cont’d)
4. Focus Groups -an interactive exchange between a interviewer/facilitator and a group of people
Get Consent from the Participants (to talk, to record, to photograph, to publish, etc)
Input can come from wide range of people and perspectives
Can really investigate root cause of problem
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Needs Assessment Methods (Cont’d)
5. Oral Surveys - Oral surveys are an interview where closed questions are used in order to elicit "yes" or "no" answers to a set of preselected questions.
Get Consent from the Participants (to talk, to record, to photograph, to publish, etc)
Reach a large number of people in a relatively short time
Relatively inexpensive (can be done with trained volunteers)
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Needs Assessment Methods (cont'd)
6. Questionnaires - individuals respond to printed questions.
Get Consent from the Participants (to talk, to record, to photograph, to publish, etc)
Easiest to quantify the data Opportunity for expression without fear of
embarrassment (anonymity) Relatively bias free
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Activity - 1
“Conduct a needs assessment to identify the housing needs of transgender community”.
In the process the groups have to come out with:
- Key information to be collected- Questions to be asked- Tools to be used
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Activity - 3
“Conduct a Needs assessment on Educational needs for infected and affected children.
In the process the groups have to come out with:
- Key information to be collected- Questions to be asked- Tools to be used- People to be approached for data collection
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Documentation of data
Documentation is recording of information obtained from activities in a permanent format. In other words confirming that some fact or statement is true.
Documentation can be done by writing down the
'who, what, when and where, why, how' connected with needs of a community
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Documentation of the data (cont’d)
The immediate and the long term needs of the community, the effectiveness of the existing services in meeting the needs, the necessity for creating new services or scaling up of the existing services to meet the needs must be documented clearly as said by the various respondents from different categories.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Recording the Data
The conversation should be recorded manually or using a tape recorder after obtaining the consent from the respondent.
Recording the date will aid the researcher to capture all the information without missing any data.
Recording should be done in a place free of disturbances or in a sound proof room to avoid distractions.
The researcher should have a thorough knowledge of the questions to be asked.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Recording the Data (cont’d)
It is essential to explain the questions to the respondent clearly.
The questions should be specific and the researcher has to facilitate the respondent to give relevant answers.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Transcribing the Data
Transcript of an interview or a focus group discussion will help you to identify what is going on, Where to focus and also prevents you from focusing on too many details provided by the respondents.
In case of analyzing a conversation, where the focus is exactly on what and how people have said – a detailed transcript is necessary.
The researcher should know what needs to be transcribed.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Analyzing the Data
Information tabulation and analysis of data should focus on
answering the major needs assessment questions.
The process should also include organizing information collected from various sources and analyzing it in order to identify key needs, and critical issues.
Both qualitative and quantitative data should be compared and interpreted.
The results of the analysis must then be presented in narrative and/or chart form for use in priority setting and planning.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Tabulation of Data
Data collected should be carefully tabulated under appropriate headings.
Do not present the same data as both tables and figures. Use either of these.
All the data tables should be numbered (Table 1, 2 etc)
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Summarizing the Data
The most important needs as identified by the respondents should be summarized logically, concisely, and sequentially, with supporting information.
Throughout the summary, do not express your personal opinions, ideas or concerns. Summarize only what has been said by the respondents.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Summarizing the Data (cont’d)
Revise your summary after completing it
Compare it with the original data. Ask someone to read it critically and make
valid changes if necessary.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Summarizing the Data (cont’d)
Edit the summary
Check for spelling mistakes, grammar and punctuation marks.
Proof read it before you present it
Remember your summary is the one which is going to highlight the key findings in a precise manner and hence calls for more attention.
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Presentation of the data
Make the presentation clear and concise.
Combine numbers with text and graphics.
Focus on the most important findings (here the most important needs identified).
Do not try to over load your presentation with too many details and information.
Thank you
S. Hedvees ChristopherTechnical Officer, SAATHII
Enhance SAMARTH
SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment:
Madurai 21/03/07
Let’s Take a Break!
