1. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Documentation for Community Needs Assessment Documentation Training for CBOs/Networks Enhance SAMARTH project USAID/ FHI/ SAATHII March 21, 2007

2. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Workshop Goals  Long Term: To enable you to conduct useful needs assessments that inform and lead to action that will improve programs, services, organizational structure and operations in your communities.  Short Term: To enable you to understand the nature and purpose of community needs assessment and to help you acquire a basic understanding of how to conduct a needs assessment, with a focus on documentation skills.

3. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Wake UP!

4. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 What is community needs assessment? In general, a needs assessment is a systematic way of identifying and documenting needs of a particular target community. E.g. needs for training, income, food, medication, education, etc. that are needed by the community. Also, can included needs for sensitizing other stakeholders in order to create an enabling environment/ reduce stigma and discrimination, needs for linkages, etc.

5. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Advantages of Community Needs Assessment zTo learn more about what your community needs are. A good needs assessment can supplement your observations and experiences. zTo get a more honest and objective description of needs. zTo become aware of possible needs that you never thought them as particularly important or that you never even knew such needs existed.

6. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Advantages of Community Needs Assessment (cont’d) zTo get the most important data to support your efforts when advocating or lobbying for your goals. The assessment can be converted into a report which can be used for various purposes (scientific paper, media etc). zTo make sure any actions you eventually get involved in are in par with the needs expressed by the community. zTo get more community support for the actions that will be undertaken at the end of the assessment.

7. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Needs Assessment Methods 1. Existing Data- Looking at information already gathered by the organization.  Get Consent from or/and acknowledge the source (to rewrite, to quote, to photograph, to publish, etc)  Can be less time consuming  No need to write and test questions, etc.  Provides excellent evidence of problem

8. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Needs Assessment Methods 2. Observation Method of data collection based on watching a process  Watching how PLHA are treated in a government hospital, to see if they are being discriminated against  Observing how police treat MSM in public cruising areas, to see if they are harassing MSM, using 377 etc.

9. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Needs Assessment Methods (cont'd) 3. Interviews- active interchanges between two or more people  Get Consent from the Participants (to talk, to record, to photograph, to publish, etc)  can be conducted either face to face or via phone/email  Can generate broad and deep data about system  Interviewer can clarify questions

10. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Needs Assessment Methods (Cont’d) 4. Focus Groups -an interactive exchange between a interviewer/facilitator and a group of people  Get Consent from the Participants (to talk, to record, to photograph, to publish, etc)  Input can come from wide range of people and perspectives  Can really investigate root cause of problem

11. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Needs Assessment Methods (Cont’d) 5. Oral Surveys -Oral surveys are an interview where closed questions are used in order to elicit "yes" or "no" answers to a set of preselected questions.  Get Consent from the Participants (to talk, to record, to photograph, to publish, etc)  Reach a large number of people in a relatively short time  Relatively inexpensive (can be done with trained volunteers)

12. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Needs Assessment Methods (cont'd) 6. Questionnaires - individuals respond to printed questions.  Get Consent from the Participants (to talk, to record, to photograph, to publish, etc)  Easiest to quantify the data  Opportunity for expression without fear of embarrassment (anonymity)  Relatively bias free

13. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Activity - 1 “Conduct a needs assessment to identify the housing needs of transgender community”. zIn the process the groups have to come out with: - Key information to be collected - Questions to be asked - Tools to be used

14. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Activity - 3 “Conduct a Needs assessment on Educational needs for infected and affected children. zIn the process the groups have to come out with: - Key information to be collected - Questions to be asked -Tools to be used -People to be approached for data collection

15. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Documentation of data zDocumentation is recording of information obtained from activities in a permanent format. In other words confirming that some fact or statement is true. zDocumentation can be done by writing down the 'who, what, when and where, why, how' connected with needs of a community

16. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Documentation of the data (cont’d) zThe immediate and the long term needs of the community, the effectiveness of the existing services in meeting the needs, the necessity for creating new services or scaling up of the existing services to meet the needs must be documented clearly as said by the various respondents from different categories.

17. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Recording the Data zThe conversation should be recorded manually or using a tape recorder after obtaining the consent from the respondent. zRecording the date will aid the researcher to capture all the information without missing any data. zRecording should be done in a place free of disturbances or in a sound proof room to avoid distractions. zThe researcher should have a thorough knowledge of the questions to be asked.

18. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Recording the Data (cont’d) zIt is essential to explain the questions to the respondent clearly. zThe questions should be specific and the researcher has to facilitate the respondent to give relevant answers.

19. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Transcribing the Data zTranscript of an interview or a focus group discussion will help you to identify what is going on, Where to focus and also prevents you from focusing on too many details provided by the respondents. zIn case of analyzing a conversation, where the focus is exactly on what and how people have said – a detailed transcript is necessary. zThe researcher should know what needs to be transcribed.

20. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Analyzing the Data zInformation tabulation and analysis of data should focus on answering the major needs assessment questions. zThe process should also include organizing information collected from various sources and analyzing it in order to identify key needs, and critical issues. zBoth qualitative and quantitative data should be compared and interpreted. zThe results of the analysis must then be presented in narrative and/or chart form for use in priority setting and planning.

21. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Tabulation of Data zData collected should be carefully tabulated under appropriate headings. zDo not present the same data as both tables and figures. Use either of these. zAll the data tables should be numbered (Table 1, 2 etc)

22. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Summarizing the Data zThe most important needs as identified by the respondents should be summarized logically, concisely, and sequentially, with supporting information. zThroughout the summary, do not express your personal opinions, ideas or concerns. Summarize only what has been said by the respondents.

23. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Summarizing the Data (cont’d) zRevise your summary after completing it yCompare it with the original data. yAsk someone to read it critically and make valid changes if necessary.

24. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Summarizing the Data (cont’d) zEdit the summary yCheck for spelling mistakes, grammar and punctuation marks. yProof read it before you present it zRemember your summary is the one which is going to highlight the key findings in a precise manner and hence calls for more attention.

25. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Presentation of the data zMake the presentation clear and concise. zCombine numbers with text and graphics. zFocus on the most important findings (here the most important needs identified). zDo not try to over load your presentation with too many details and information.

26. Thank you S. Hedvees Christopher Technical Officer, SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH

27. SAATHII Enhance SAMARTH: Documentation for Community Needs Assessment: Madurai 21/03/07 Let’s Take a Break!