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