Addressing Key Needs

The indicator measures the extent to which the people who received assistance think it meets their needs. It indicates the relevance of the provided assistance.

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of your target group members who received assistance:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: Organization [specify the name] provided you and other people living in this area with [specify the provided assistance]. To what extent did this assistance help you meet the primary needs relating to [specify the purpose of the assistance – e.g. ensuring good hygiene / nutrition / etc.]?

A1: _

1) the assistance met all main needs

2) the assistance met most needs

3) the assistance met only some needs

4) the assistance did not meet any needs

5) does not know

(the following question is recommended but not mandatory; only ask it if the previous answer is “most needs”, “some needs”, or “did not meet any needs”)

Q2: You mentioned that the assistance did not meet all your main needs relating to [specify the purpose of the assistance]. Can you please tell me why? What are the key needs that the assistance did not meet?

A2: predefine a list of options relevant to the local context and potential needs; include the option “other - specify: ……………..”

To calculate the indicator's value, divide the number of respondents who reported that the provided assistance met “all” or “most” of their needs by the total number of interviewed respondents (exclude those who responded “does not know”. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregate the data by gender, age group, and any other criteria relevant to the context and focus of your intervention.

1) Ensure that both the respondent and the enumerator know that Q1 is asking about the needs that the assistance could realistically address only, not about needs in general. For example, if a project provides food aid, Q1 must focus on needs relating to ensuring good nutrition. Otherwise, the answers will provide biased data, as a single project usually cannot address all the primary needs.

2) Keep in mind that people’s needs might change over time. Therefore, it is crucial that you ask people to compare what they received with the needs they had at the time when they received the assistance. Avoid asking people about any assistance they received a long time before, as it might not be easy for them to recall what their needs were at that time.