Executive Summary
Background
In recent years, greater priority has been given to coordinated needs assessments in emergencies in order to facilitate consensus on the identification of critical needs, minimise duplication of data collection efforts and assessment fatigue and move towards a more efficient use of resources for assessments. The release of the policy and normative guidance by the IASC on coordinated assessments and lately the introduction of the humanitarian programme cycle (HPC) has contributed to the roll-out of coordinated assessments and joint analysis across countries affected by disasters around the globe.
In 2015, a report produced as a result of consultations for the World Humanitarian Summit further emphasised the importance of assessments, calling for the development of mechanisms to verify and improve the quality and credibility of needs assessments.
The Coordinated Assessment Support Section (CASS) within OCHA’s Programme Support Branch (PSB) is the main technical reference body for OCHA Country and Regional Offices on coordinated assessments and joint needs analysis. CASS commissioned this review of both the approaches and outputs of such exercises to shed light on the achievements, lessons learned and remaining challenges, and way forward.
Purpose and objectives
The main purpose of this review is to identify ways to enhance OCHA’s capacity at country, regional and global levels to coordinate needs assessment and analysis at various stages of an emergency.
The specific objectives are to gain a better understanding of:
The appropriateness, efficiency and effectiveness of approaches followed to support coordinated assessments and joint analysis in the field, in various types of crisis contexts and at various stages of a crisis,
The quality of coordinated assessment and joint analysis outputs, including validity, relevance and timeliness,
The role played by CASS in supporting coordinated assessment and joint analysis and the production of quality outputs, including through trainings, direct field missions, remote technical advice, and development or improvement of methods and tools by itself or in partnership with others,
The degree of preparedness for coordinated assessments and joint analysis, particularly in countries at high and very high risk of crisis.