STEPS Needs Assessment Breakout Page 1

COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENTS STEPS to Eliminate Poverty Sustainably

Rotary District 5240

January 31, 2015

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WE DO NEEDS ASSESSMENTS EVERY DAY

• Planning a Child’s Birthday Party

• Hiring employees or contractors

• Making a major purchase

Don’t be afraid of the term “needs assessment”.

It’s something you do everyday!

There is no single recipe or checklist for a

community needs assessment.

There are guiding principles that help you

understand the needs of the

community you desire to help

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ROTARY DEFINITION OF EFFECTIVE SERVICE PROJECTS

• Respond to real issues

• Improve community members’ lives

• Incorporate the abilities of those who are served

• Recognize the contributions of all participants as

important and necessary

• Are based on a realistic assessment of available

resources

• Aim for specific goals and objectives with

measurable results

• Empower people and communities

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WHAT IS A COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT ?

A Community Needs Assessment paints a

picture using information from beneficiaries and

stakeholders about their current conditions and

their priorities with respect to improving their

quality of life

Needs Assessments use the same process whether

you are considering a club project, a local project or

an international project.

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WHY DO A COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

• A Community Needs Assessment

– Establishes a relationship of trust with the beneficiaries

– Identifies multiple needs as defined by the community

– Tells you how the needs can be met in a way that is culturally

appropriate and consistent with community expectations.

• Hospital beds in Kenya

– Makes sustainable projects possible

– Provides a roadmap for future projects

• A community needs assessment is mandatory for Rotary

Foundation Global Grants

Best Practice: Use a community needs assessment

before any project that involves

Rotarian time, talent and/or treasure

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PREPARING FOR A COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

• Define your area of interest

– You won’t be able to solve every problem

– What are your club members’ interests

• Plan to meet with the organizations that are

already serving the beneficiaries

• Determine what arrangements need to be made

so that you can meet directly with the

beneficiaries

• Select your needs assessment team

• Draft questions that can be used to guide the

discussion

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A SUCCESSFUL NEEDS ASSESSMENT

• Involves the Beneficiaries

– Who are the beneficiaries

– How do you reach them

• Formal organizations

• Informal organizations

– Don Leonardo

• Do not rely on third parties to provide beneficiary input

– Santa Paula Needs Assessment

– How will you interact with them

• One on one

• Focus groups

• Surveys

• Street Girls of Ghana

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A SUCCESSFUL NEEDS ASSESSMENT

• Obtains information that gives you a picture

of the community

– Start with questions that ask “what is going well”

• What help have you had or do you have today

• What organizations support you

– Follow up with questions that help you

understand what is not going well

• Where do you need help

• What are your priorities

• What can you contribute

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A SUCCESSFUL NEEDS ASSESSMENT

• Asks Questions

– Create a basic list of questions but be prepared to

modify based on beneficiary input

– Questions must be neutral with respect to the need

and the solution

• Closed-ended questions give you facts

• Open-ended questions help you discover needs and

priorities

• Ensure your questions do not guide the answers

– Respect silence

• El Marillal Microcredit Needs Assessment

Never ask “do you want …” because the answer

will always be yes – Simi Valley Assessments

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A SUCCESSFUL NEEDS ASSESSMENT

• Obtains Answers

– Empowers the beneficiaries to express their own ideas

• Do not assume that past projects are still relevant

• Remember that you must be neutral in your voice tone and

body language

– Gives you information that will help plan a project

• Don’t leave with unanswered questions

• Establish follow up actions

Meeting community needs as defined and prioritized by the

community results in projects that shows

TRF donors that their money is being used wisely and

encourages them to support your projects in the future

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AFTER THE COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

• Identify projects that are

– Within the budget and time that you have

available

– Interesting to the members of your club

– High on the beneficiary priority list

• NO is OK if you can’t take on a project

– La Isla

• Asking questions and involving beneficiaries

in making decisions continues through project

planning and implementation

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OBSTACLES

• International Projects – International partners may not have received the same emphasis

on beneficiary involvement and needs assessments that you

have.

– International partners may believe that they know what the

beneficiaries need and will be reluctant to want to involve them

directly

• Local Projects

– Even in your local community, you may find the in-place

organizations will make it difficult to meet with beneficiaries

– How will a new project impact any current projects that you are

doing for the same beneficiaries.

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LOCAL WORKSHOP

• You are the chair of your club’s community

service committee. Your committee has

decided that it wants to provide health

care services to poor children in your

community. Two ideas that were

mentioned were a dental clinic and vision

testing/eyeglasses.

• What should you and your committee

members do next and in what order?

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INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP

• You are the chair of your club’s international

service committee. Your club has been doing

projects with an international partner for

several years. Your club members just heard

a speaker that told them the biggest problem

in eliminating poverty is clean water and

sanitation. They are very excited about doing

an international water project.

• What should you and your committee

members do next and in what order?

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

Go to the District 5240 website

www.rotarydistrict5240.org

Select District

Select Foundation and Grants

Select Grants

From the left hand list of related pages

Select 2015 Needs Assessment