Humanitarian Needs Assessment – The Good Enough Guide

Needs assessment is essential for programme planning, monitoring and evaluation, and accountability, however needs assessment is still a critical weakness of humanitarian response. Organisations need to improve how they do assessments. The Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) and the Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB) have produced this guide to fill the gap that existed for a practical resource that pulls together the main lessons learned from various initiatives and experiences.

This guide is written for field staff carrying out assessments in the early days and weeks following a disaster. It is especially aimed at national project managers and their teams. The guide does not explain every activity that you will need to carry out for your assessment, but it will help you through the assessment process. It has three sections to help you with assessments: steps, tools, and resources.