Lecture 3 - Needs Analysis

SOCI 6069

Programme Monitoring and Evaluation

Instructor: G. Lipps
 What is Need Assessment?

• An aid to planning and developing programmes

• Identifies needs not met by current network of
services
• Can determine how scare resources are to be
allocated
 What is Needs Assessment?
• Five key features
• Active involvement of stakeholders
• Use of wide variety of methods
• Links design & delivery of programmes to clients’
needs
• Exposes biases and values in design of programmes
• Focuses on groups rather than individuals
 What is a Need?
• Many approaches to defining need
• Ideal
• Normative condition
• Minimum amount
• Desired state
• Expected state
“… a value judgment that some group has a problem that
can be solved … (McKillip)”
 What is a Need?
• Four key elements to definition
• Value judgment of what is a problem
• A group of people to whom the need is attached
• A specific problem the group faces
• A possible solution
• Value judgement key aspect of needs
 What are the Steps?
• Five steps in needs assessment:
• Identify clients of needs assessment
• Describe target population & local services which
serve them
• Identify needs of target population
• Synthesize information on needs
• Communicate results
 Step One: Identify client and
their needs for information
• Identify who will use information
• Users of Needs Analysis are those who will act on
information to develop new programme or service
• Includes other stakeholders who are affected by
programme
• Identify what the proposed use of the information
will be
• Identify what client wants to know about target
population
 Step Two: Describe target
population and local services
• Describe target population by collecting
information on:
• Geographic location
• Means of transportation
• Demographic features
• What programmes currently serve target
population
• Inventory of services
• Identify gaps in services
 Step Three: Identify needs of
target population
• Collect information from target group, key
informants, community agencies on needs
• Use a variety of methods
• Collect information on what constitutes
satisfaction of need
• Collect information on feasibility,
effectiveness, and utilization of proposed
solutions
 Step Four: Synthesize
information on needs
• Put together information on needs and possible
solutions
• Formulate recommendations for change
• Use quantitative & qualitative methods to
summarize information
• Process of combining information must be open
& explicit
 Step Five: Communicate results

• Present findings to key stakeholders including

target population
• Separate presentation to each group
• Brief written report
• Executive summary
• All stakeholder have opportunity to comment on
draft version
 Tools and Techniques of
Needs Analysis
• Resource inventory
• Secondary data analysis
• Synthetic estimation
• Client analysis
• Surveys
• Group procedures
• Focus group
• Community forum/public hearing
 Resource Inventory
• Essentially a compilation of all the
resources in the community that serve the
target population
• Start by using community directory
• Collect information via survey or key
informant interviews
• Snowball sample to obtain other resources
 Resource Inventory
• Collect information on:
• Agencies providing services in community
• Types of services provided
• Who provides each service
• Where do referrals come from
• Two outputs:
• Community directory
• Matrix of services by client features
Secondary Data Analysis
• Several sources of secondary data
• STATIN - Census, Labour Force Survey,
Survey of Living Conditions
• Governmental Departments such as MOH,
MOEY, Registrar General
• PIOJ – Social & Economic Survey
• NGO’s & Local Service Agencies
 Secondary Data Analysis
• Secondary data analysis can be used to
• Describe the target population
• Synthetic estimation of smaller populations
• Comparison of eligible target population to population
served
 Synthetic Estimation
• Need to estimate HIV in Spanish Town but have
data on Jamaica
• Prevalence of HIV in Jamaica of 381/100,000
• Population of Spanish Town is 131,056 people
• HIV in Spanish Town is:
0.00381 X 131,056 = 500 people
 Surveys
• Three types of surveys can be
undertaken
• Survey of community members or the target
population
• Survey of key informants
• Survey of programmes
 Group Procedures
• Two major methods of collecting
information from groups:
• Focus group technique
• Community forums
 Combining Information
on Needs
• Have a list of problems and solutions
• Each has information from various methods and
data sources
• Also have data on the efficacy, feasibility and
possible utilization
• Need method to put together different sources of
information
 Combining Information
on Needs
• Organize information into a matrix
• Rows present information on needs and
columns present ratings/data from various data
sources
• Can use qualitative or quantitative
approaches to synthesizing information
 Combining Information
on Needs
• Qualitative methods include
• Pruning
• Minimum Criterion
• Balance Sheet
• Quantitative methods include
• Rank ordering
• Standardization
• Weighting by importance