Knowledge, Skills and Strategies
for Professionals

Needs Assessments in Emergency and Rehabilitation Situations (5 days)

Strategies, techniques and tools to prepare and conduct a needs assessment

Courses in 2010

8-12 February, Geneva
Early bird fee available until 4 January, registration and payment deadline: 18 January.

Early bird fee/full fee (course fee is calculated in Swiss Francs CHF, more information):
- Non-OECD: CHF 1450/1700, approx. USD 1250/1500
- OECD: CHF 1950/2200, or approx. USD 1750/2000.

To register, please fill in this form and send it to us by email.

For further enquiries, please contact us.

Overview

Whilst good information does not guarantee a good programme, poor information almost certainly guarantees a bad one. Assessments are a vital element of the programme planning process: they provide the information on which decisions will be made. The first part of our course on Project Cycle Management enables participants to learn about and test how to prepare and conduct a needs assessment. The course focuses on assessment strategies, the various tasks to be done throughout the whole process as well as techniques and tools used to improve the quality of information obtained during interviews with stakeholders. This should help participants to improve the quality of their needs assessments and therefore the quality of the relevance of potential projects and operations that may follow.

The course is divided into two parts: 1) What to assess, i.e. the content of an assessment, and 2) How to assess, i.e. the process of an assessment. The course includes a one-day field exercise to practice the newly acquired knowledge and skills.

This course is also available in French. Ce cours peut également être animé en français.

This is part of our training on Project Cycle Management, which provides a solid foundation on the three following core subjects:

- Needs Assessments in Emergency and Rehabilitation situations (5 days)
- Designing and Planning Projects (5 days), next course from 24-28 May
- Monitoring and Evaluation (5 days), next course from 22-26 November.

Participants obtain a certificate in Project Cycle Management after attending the three courses. Each of these courses covers one main subject and can also be taken individually, leading to a course certificate. For more information about Project Cycle Management, please see the overview of courses.

Click here to download the course leaflet (PDF format).

Who should attend

The course will benefit in particular:
  • Programme coordinators
  • Key field and HQ staff involved in assessments
  • Managers supervising field assessments
How you and your organisation will benefit - Learning Objectives

At the end of the course, participants have understood the assessment concept and methods and are able to select and use appropriate data collection tools.

Course programme

The training course is based on a series of modules, which can be adapted to the requirements of the course participants. The emphasis is put on practice and exercises and includes:
  • Group-work
  • Brainstorming
  • Questions and answers
  • Role play
  • Simulation
  • Short presentations

Day 1 Overview of approaches in needs assessment

1. Assessing how basic needs are covered
  • Health pyramid
  • Household economy
Day 2 2. Assessment concept
  • Project cycle
  • Aim of an assessment
  • Types of assessment
3. The assessment process
  • Preparing a field visit
  • Conducting a field visit
  • Analysing findings from field visit
Day 3 4. Tips and tricks for successful field visits:

Consultations, reliability of info, bias, marginalised groups, changes and trends, looking for the unexpected, impact, use of info, timing of visit

5. Data collection techniques
  • Example of Participatory tools
  • Interview techniques
  • Introduction to sampling
Day 4+5 Field exercise in groups
  • Preparation
  • Field visit and information collection
  • Analysis of findings and recommendations
  • Group reporting
  • Analysis and feedback on field exercise

Individual consultation

As a participant, you can obtain an individual consultation from the trainer during the course on how to further develop a project of your own, or on another subject of your choice.

Course venue

If there are no management courses for NGOs in your country yet, please read about our partnership approach, the benefits for partner organisations and three simple steps to organize the training courses for NGOs in your community.

NGO Management School   Switzerland  Copyright 2009: Some rights reserved