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Needs Assessments

Needs assessments are described in different ways by different projects but are essentially a way of supporting communities to identify needs, services, resources and gaps in any area. NGO/CBO support providers (NSPs) can enhance the quality and impact of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and impact mitigation projects by encouraging NGOs and CBOs to incorporate needs assessments which directly involve communities (participatory community assessments or PCAs) into their programming.

Using participatory tools and techniques (such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, role plays, diagramming and drawing) in community assessments can help NGOs and CBOs to identify the overall needs of the community and place sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS needs within that context. Furthermore, PCAs can help to identify vulnerability factors that put people at greater risk of HIV infection, and the impact of HIV/AIDS. Involving the community, and particularly those most affected by HIV/AIDS, in this process helps NGOs and CBOs to develop programmes that are based on real needs and to address the contextual factors affecting vulnerability. It can also promote ownership of the programmes by the community, which in turn increases the chances of the activities being sustained in the long term.

Once projects have been designed and appropriate indicators established, information from needs assessments can also be used to contribute to establishing baseline information against which project progress can be measured. Combined with other sources of information (for example, epidemiological data surveys), needs assessments can help NGOs/CBOs and/or NSPs to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the HIV/AIDS situation and response in a given area. Furthermore, needs assessments can play a role in establishing relations with the community, start to promote the participation of those most affected by HIV/AIDS and provide an entry point for future project implementation.

Issues to consider

• NGOs/CBOs need to think about and define the population most important to the epidemic dynamic (key populations) while conducting a participatory community assessment. This will ensure that they have accurately identified and involved the relevant people. This does not necessarily mean that an NSP decides which population they will work with before the participatory community assessment. It is more to ensure that there is a clear understanding of the populations that are to be involved in the assessment.
• NSPs and their partner organisations may need to strike a balance between responding to priorities identified by communities through participatory assessments and their own programmatic priorities and strategies, those of their donors or the strategies of the national HIV/AIDS programme.
• Furthermore, NSPs need to consider to what extent they should support partner NGOs and CBOs to respond to needs identified during a participatory community assessment that do not relate specifically to HIV/AIDS. For example, it is tempting to focus solely on HIV/AIDS given the urgency of the epidemic rather than recognising that other needs may serve as entry points for the project or may help to establish credibility with the community.
• NSPs may need to help their partner NGOs and CBOs manage the expectations that a participatory community assessment can create in a community. It is important to recognise the role and capacity of other players and of the community itself when collectively analysing who should address gaps in the response.

Related themes

Assessment

Situation assessment

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