James Darcy ACAPs workshop on multi-sectoral assessment Revinge, Sweden May 2010

1. James Darcy ACAPs workshop on multi-sectoral assessment Revinge, Sweden May 2010 Needs assessment and decision-making

2. 3 functions of assessment • to inform organisational decisions about response, throughout the life of a programme • to influence others’ decisions (including donors and host governments) • to justify response decisions and appeals for funds (& provide baseline for impact assessment)

3. Context for this discussion • Perceived credibility gap • Donors’ own assessments (DART etc) • Push for more joined-up, better prioritised response (how exactly does JNA help with this?) • Political resistance in country • Fragmentation and discontinuity in diagnostic processes (assessment, monitoring, evaluation) • Misunderstanding (mis-portrayal?) of the role of aid

4. Issues arising with multi-sector assessment Form should follow function. So... what is the purpose of multi-sector assessment? What is its utility? (Compare JNA, MSA, etc) • Issues arising: • Conceptual • Methodological • Process • Operational

5. Mapping the evolution of a crisis 1 Severity C ‘Crisis’ threshold B D A Time

6. Needs-based decision-making ‘Need’ is not a precisely definable or measurable quantity, and needs assessment is not an exact science: it involves estimation, interpretation and judgement, as well as measurement, observation and analysis. Decision-making, similarly, involves judgement and the weighing of multiple factors. The question is what constitutes a sufficiently well-informed decision, and how to ensure that decisions are adequately informed by good needs analysis.

7. What types of decision? At what level? • Strategic decisions about whether and how to respond – or to change a response – scale, role • Programmedesign decisions (sectoral approach etc) • Resource allocation decisions: What resources ($, people etc) to allocate and how to allocate them (cp macro and micro resource allocation) • Tactical/operational decisions Levels of decision: (i) Within organisations: HQ, regional, national, local (ii) System-wide or inter-organisational

8. Implementation UN agencies Crisis-affectedcommunities Red Cross/ Crescent Movement STATE National & local government + agents • Non-state actors • Civil society: NGOs etc • - Other International NGOs Who is making the decisions…? INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN ‘SYSTEM’ CRISIS CONTEXTS Finance International donor governments (humanitarian ODA) National and regional offices Common Funds Governance and Coordination Private individuals Corporate etc

9. Linking assessment and response 1: getting to a programme Pre-crisis Information (baselines, livelihoods etc) Early Warning Surveillance Monitoring Situational analysis tools (social, economic, political, + sector specific: epidemiological, etc.) Response analysis tools (best practice, standards & protocols, evaluations, etc.) Response analysis (Design, resourcerequirements) Assessment Programme design • Other factors: • Organisational policy • Resource availability • Added value • Politics • Etc. Response Decision Costed Programme Situational analysis Response analysis Situational analysis (Need/risk, vulnerability, capacities)

10. Caseload determination Linking assessment and response decisions 2: getting to a number EWS, vulnerability mapping, surveillance, scenario planning Donor assessments Population affected International appeal Donor resource allocation Situational Assessments Groups at most risk Proposed interventions: programme design Operational & work plans National government Information systems Programme implementation Situational analysis Calculation of resource requirement Response analysis Agency Proposal

11. Different levels of analysis & information need • Health cluster example • Compare: • Overall health sector • Sub-categories: resource availability, service coverage, risk factors, outcomes • Detailed indicators • Who needs which level of analysis?