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+ Session by Joy Behrens Maurya West Meiers Quick but not dirty - 6 Week Needs Assessment.

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Presentation on theme: "+ Session by Joy Behrens Maurya West Meiers Quick but not dirty - 6 Week Needs Assessment."— Presentation transcript:

1 + Session by Joy Behrens Maurya West Meiers Quick but not dirty - 6 Week Needs Assessment

2 + NEEDS ASSESSMENT A systematic study of a problem or innovation, incorporating data and opinions from varied sources, in order to make effective decisions or recommendations about what should happen next (Rossett)

3 + NEEDS assessment What are we assessing? What are NEEDS? Individual, group, organizational, societal, all? Expressed, felt, measured, comparative, etc.? Can we assess needs alone? Should we assess needs alone?

4 + So… Where to Start How do we DEFINE needs? Needs as things Needs as gaps Needs as goals Needs as human condition

5 + So… Where to Start How do we tend to DEFINE needs? Needs as things “We need new smartphones in order to succeed at work” (Look out for the solution here.) Needs as gaps “Our need is to decrease by 80% the number of new HIV/AIDS cases in our community” Needs as goals “People need to feel safe” Needs as human condition “People need water to stay alive”

6 + How We Define Needs… Clarifies the goals of our assessment Influences how we design our assessment Determines what we measure, and therefore how we measure Influences what we report, to whom, and in what format

7 + Examples If you define need as a gap in results Who knows (or has data)? How can you get this information (survey, interviews, document review, etc.)? What questions do you ask? How do you analyze the data? If you define need as an object Who knows (or has data)? How can you get this information (survey, interviews, document review, etc.)? What questions do you ask? How do you analyze the data?

8 + How you define NEED also… Determines if/how… ASSETS CAPACITY WANTS … fit into our assessments

9 + Need? Something else? To achieve universal primary education, we need construction, extension, and equipment of classrooms and buildings. The wait times to see a specialist in community health clinics are unacceptable.

10 + Planning Your NA – Some Sources To read more about overall planning, see Watkins, West Meiers and Visser (A Guide to Assessing Needs) – Includes checklists for different types of needs assessments Altschuld (Planning and Conducting Needs Assessments: A Practical Guide; Needs Assessment Kit)

11 + 6 Week Planning Guide (see handouts )

12 + Scenario You are a small firm and have been asked by a large senior center in your state to carry out a quick but important needs assessment for them. The senior center management team has noted an uptick in requests in the community for more and improved services for members in the community with dementia problems. An advisory board approving plans and budgets for the senior center is your sponsor. Your job: Plan and carry out a needs assessment in 6 weeks (or less!) that will inform the key stakeholders for decisionmaking.

13 + Consultations With Partners Purposes Information sharing for those affected and others who need to know Obtain “buy-in” for the assessment – and the results Aids data collection Clarifications for needs assessors and stakeholders Basics Use a planning checklist (and update it regularly) Key issues Stakeholders –Who has standing? Who else might value the information? Participatory approach Some methods of dissemination

14 + Stakeholders & Informants Primary stakeholders. Have some direct relationship with the assessment (e.g., managers and employees, mayor’s office, neighborhood representative, village chief, community members, etc.). Secondary stakeholders. Have a lesser relationship to the assessment, but should not be overlooked (e.g., people living in the next community, etc). Informants. May have useful data to inform the assessment, but may not have standing (e.g., experts, etc.). Researchers, others. Those who could benefit from the assessment. Publish your needs assessment methods and papers to build the literature base! Share your assessment information on www.needsassessment.org.www.needsassessment.org

15 + Participatory Approach Emphasizing Participation Right stakeholders Early engagements Two-way communications and creating opportunities for feedback Transparency on assessment methods, non-confidential data, findings, etc. Regular feedback and engagements (including data collection) Targeted methods of dissemination for different audience group (Who needs what info, when, how often, which methods, etc?) Our voices


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