Needs Assessment in Emergencies

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Needs Assessment in Emergencies - Credit-Rated

Date: 5 - 9 Nov 2012
Length: 5 days
Location: London, UK
Residential: No

Needs assessment is vital to the success of any humanitarian programme. Before relief work can take place, aid workers need to understand the present needs and the resources available in order to plan and respond effectively. Conducting accurate, effective and timely assessments is key to the preparation and planning of humanitarian projects.

This course aims to improve the effectiveness of personnel engaged in humanitarian relief by taking you through good practice in assessment procedure, including frameworks and principles of emergency assessments. This is an interactive course that utilises group exercises and focused discussion, giving you the opportunity to share ideas and experiences.

Who should attend?

People with some experience of working in the humanitarian sector.

What does the course cover?

There are four main themes:

Organisation and management - objectives of the assessment, terms of reference, planning assessment activities, information collation, report writing
Data collection techniques - how they work, when to use them and the meaningfulness of the data they produce
Analytical frameworks that determine the focus of the assessment, the way assessment information translates into programme response and helps establish indicators for measuring progress, impact and relevance
Sector-specific issues - data collection methodologies and analytical frameworks that are most appropriate to each sector, links between sectors, and benchmarks, especially SPHERE

By the end of the course you will be able to:

Design and plan an effective needs assessment employing tools appropriate for the approach
Analyse assessment data to effectively report on beneficiaries’ needs and capacities
Analyse cross-cutting and sector specific issues that impact on emergency needs assessments
Demonstrate an understanding of the humanitarian context and underlying principles
Describe the importance of using a participatory approach throughout the assessment cycle
Demonstrate an understanding of the key skills, personal attributes and competencies required by an emergency needs assessor

The assessment

Needs Assessment in Emergencies is a competency based, assessed course worth 10 Masters level credits that can be transferred to the Masters in Development and Emergency Practice (DEP) from Oxford Brookes University or other similar postgraduate qualifications. For more infomation about this and the other credit rated courses that RedR offers click here.