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Assessment

Assessment should be the first step in planning a new programme of work. Periodic re-assessment can also be important in the course of a long programme of work spread over several years.

A situation or project assessment can vary significantly in terms of scope, scale, depth, and comprehensiveness. The nature of the assessment that is carried out will depend on the CBO’s or NGO’s mission, the community it serves, the timescale and funding level. It may also vary according to whether it is instigated by the NGO itself, or is a requirement of grant funding or of a contract.

By contrast with academic research, the purpose of assessment for most NGO programmes is to provide findings which are immediately useful in identifying priorities for project planning and which are sufficiently detailed and relevant to answer practical questions about how the work of the programme should be organised.

Project-orientated assessment might try to find out:

• how to reach and involve those who could most benefit from the proposed programme of work;
• what their needs are in relation to HIV/AIDS;
• the social, economic and political factors which could affect the work that can be done, including both opportunities and obstacles; and
• the strengths and weaknesses of existing services for this group of people, including gaps and services that need to be scaled up or improved.

Local assessments can gather this information in a variety of ways, including desk-research, field observation, interviews, group discussions and surveys; and from a variety of sources including existing reports, staff and volunteers of relevant agencies, community representatives, and ordinary community members.

NGO / CBO support providers (NSPs) will need to budget substantial technical support for some NGOs and CBOs, and may need to persuade them of the value of a formal assessment, which may seem like a luxury given the urgency of the most immediate and obvious needs. Other NGOs may only need support with particular issues such as how to maximise community participation in the assessment, or data analysis. Most NGOs and in particular CBOs, will also need financial support to fund the costs of carrying out an assessment, particularly if this is done before a full grant is made.

Issues to consider

• Each NGO will be faced with a choice about where to draw the boundaries of its assessment. For example, if NGOs cannot currently support care work there may be no point in assessing treatment needs. On the other hand, some NGOs will choose to include such an assessment in order to prepare for possible future extension of their remit.
• Some NGOs will want to designate particular priority ‘sites’ within their overall region of operation (for example, certain towns, districts, neighbourhoods or border crossings) in which to conduct more detailed landscape assessment.
• If an NGO has only a very limited budget and there is limited HIV/AIDS programming money available in the country, there may be little point in an assessment that covers all possible regions and needs in detail. On the other hand, some form of assessment is still needed in order to prioritise work in such a situation.
• Pre-assessment desk research can prepare for an assessment process in a strategic and productive way by identifying existing sources of usable data. However, to avoid relying on pre-conceived ideas, it is important for the assessment team to check how well the data has been selected and the quality of the data itself.
• In some situations one way of assessing the landscape can be to undertake initial pilot work, which can be more acceptable than the kind of formal assessment that raises expectations which may not be met.

Related themes

Needs assessments

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