In this lesson, you will complete a practical exercise to develop a data analysis plan.

To start, watch the video, which will

introduce the scenario and context that you will use for the rest of the exercise. 

The war in Syria began on the 15th of March 2011 with major unrest in two of its cities: Damascus and Aleppo. The unrest in Syria,
part of a wider wave of the 2011 Arab Spring protests, grew out of discontent of its people with the Syrian government and
escalated to an armed conflict after protests calling for Assad's removal were violently suppressed.  
 
Since March 2011, the events in Syria have resulted in significant humanitarian needs, that have now spread to many areas of the
country, and have grown sharply since the issuance of the first Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan in June 2012.  
 
In 2012, it was estimated that up to three million people have been directly or indirectly affected by the events.  
 
In 2013, the humanitarian situation in Syria remained catastrophic and continued to deteriorate at a rapid pace. Fierce fighting
across large parts of the country led to massive displacement and mounting refugee outflows to neighbouring countries. In
December 2013, the result of the on-going crisis was further massive population displacement and growing humanitarian needs.
The UN estimated then that 6.5 million people are internally displaced and a total of 9.3 million people are in need of humanitarian
assistance, 46% of whom are children. 
 
Humanitarian aid during the Syrian Civil War has been provided by various international bodies, organizations and states. The main
effort is coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). In 2014, U.N. Security
Council Resolution 2165 authorised humanitarian aid to be supplied via four border crossings from Turkey and Jordan while
humanitarian assistance programmes from within Syria resumed.  
 

The year is now 2014. The humanitarian community intervening in Syria has called to conduct a multi-sectoral humanitarian needs
assessment to provide valid information at strategic level, to identify critical needs according to geographical areas and sectors,
most important issues, and their underlying factors. This assessment also needs to highlight humanitarian access issues and identify
information gaps and needs.