A Guide to Assessing Needs

A Guide to Assessing Needs is an essential resource for anyone who conducts needs assessments. A solid discussion of methods and where they are best applied in the needs assessment process provides foundational knowledge for practitioners. Further, very important contributions to the field are made through closely linking assessments to an organizational performance perspective while at the same time offering numerous examples and illustrations of how it is utilized in international settings and contexts.

A Guide to Assessing Needs

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aking informed and justifiable decisions is the essential beginning to any successful development project. However, critical steps must be taken to help ensure that the decisions made will achieve the desired results. These steps rely on systematic processes and tools—collectively known as “needs assessment”—that help decision makers resist the temptation to select solutions before results have been clearly identified and defined. A Guide to Assessing Needs is intended to be a user’s guide for the ill-defined “front end” of development projects that starts with an initial concept and ends with a decision about the best path forward. From deciding to propose a sanitation project in South Asia to selecting approaches that strengthen school management in South America, decisions are the starting place of development. Filled with practical strategies, tools, and guides, this book covers not only large-scale formal needs assessments but also smaller, less-formal assessments that can guide daily decisions. It will be of particular interest to development practitioners.

James Altschuld, author of the Needs Assessment Kit, Professor Emeritus from the
Ohio State University

Michael Bamberger, co-author of RealWorld Evaluation: Working under Budget, Time,
Data and Political Constraints and How to Design and Implement Equity-Focused Evaluations

ISBN 978-0-8213-8868-6

SKU 18868

Watkins • West Meiers • Visser

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