In-Depth Needs Assessment

1.  Household Activities

o        What household and livelihood support activities typically take place in shelters of the affected population, and how does the resulting space provision and design reflect these activities?

o        What household and livelihood support activities typically take place in the external areas around the shelters of the affected population, and how does the resulting space provision and design reflect these activities?

2.  Materials and Design

o        What initial shelter solutions or materials have been provided to date by the affected households or other actors?

o        What existing materials can be salvagd from the damage site (if applicable) for use in the reconstruction of shelters?

o        What are the typical building practices of the displaced and host populations, and what are the different materials that are used to provide the structural fram and roof and external wall enclosures?

o        What alternative design or materials solutions are potentially available and familiar or acceptable to the affected population?

o        How can the potential shelter solutions identified accommodate appropriate single and multiple disaster prevention and mitigation concerns?

o        How are shelters typically built and by whom?

o        How are construction materials typically obtained and by whom?

o        How can women, youths and older people be trained or assisted to participate in the building of their own shelters, and what are the constraints?

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3.  Tools and Equipment

o        What basic tools to construct, maintain or repair shelter do the households have access to?

o        What livelihood support activites can also utilize the basic tools for shelter construction, maintenance and repair?

o        Does the climate or natural environment require a ground covering to maintain appropriate standards of health and dignity, and what appropriate material solutions can be provided?

o        What vector control measures, particularly the provision of mosquito nets, are required to ensure the health and well-being of households?

4.  Local Resources and Constraints

o        What are the current material, financial and human resources of the affected households and the community, and the constraints to meeting some or all of their urgent shelter needs?

o        What are the opportunities and constraints of current patterns of land ownership, land usage and the availability of vacant land, in helping to meet urgent shelter needs?

o        What are the opportunities and constraints of the host population in accommodating displaced households within their own dwellings or on adjacent land?

o        What are the opportunities and constraints of utilizing existing available and unaffected buildings or structures to temporarily accommodate displaced households?

o        What is the topographical and environmental suitability of using accessible vacant land to accommodate temporary settlements?

o        What are the requirements and constraints of local authority regulations in developing shelter solutions?

5.  Essential Services and Facilities

o        What is the current availability of water for drinking and personal hygiene, and what are the possibilities and constraints in meeting the anticipated sanitation needs?

o        What is the current provision of social facilities (health clinics, schools, places of worship, etc.) and what are the constraints and opportunities of accessing these facilities?

6.  Host Community and Environmental Impact

o        What are the issues of concern for the host community?

o        What are the organizational and planning issues of accommodating the displaced households within the host community or within temporary settlements?

o        What are the environmental concerns in providing the necessary shelter assistance (construction materials and access) and in supporting the displaced households (fuel, sanitation, waste disposal, grazing for animals if appropriate)?

o        What opportunites are present for building local shelter and settlement provision and management capacities?

o        What livelihood support opportunities can be provided through the sourcing of materials and the construction of shelter and settlement solutions?

7.  Demographics

o        How many people comprise a typical household?

o        Does the affected community comprise groups of individuals who do not form typical households, such as unaccompanied children, or particular minority groups with household sizes that are not typical?

o        How many households are without any or with inadequate shelter and where are they?

o        How many people who are not members of individual households are without any or with inadequate shelter and where are they?

8.  Risks

o        What is the immediate risk to life of the lack of shelter and inadequate shelter, and how many people are at risk?

o        What are the potential risks to the lives, health and security of the affected population through the need for shelter?

o        What are potential risks to and impact on any host populations due to the presence of displaced households?

o        What are the potential further risks to lives, health and security of the affected population as a result of the ongoing effects of the disaster on the provision shelter?

o        Who are the vulnerable people in the population, also considering those affected by HIV/AIDS?

o        What are the particular risks for the vulnerable people and why?

9. Personal Hygiene

o        What essential items to address personal hygiene issues did a typical household have access to before the disaster?

o        What essential items do affected households no longer have access to?

o        What are the particular needs of women, girls, children and infants?

o        What additional items are considered socially or culturally important to maintain the health and dignity of the affected people?

10.  Cooking and Eating, Stoves and Fuel

o        What form of stove for cooking and heating did a typical household have access to, where did the cooking take place in relation to the existing shelter and the surrounding area, and what fuel was typically used?

o        How many households do not have access to a stove for cooking and heating, and why?

o        How many households do not have access to adequate supplies of fuel for cooking and heating, and why?

o        What are the opportunities and constraints, in particular the environmental concerns, of sourcing adequate supplies of fuel for the displaced househojlds and the host community as appropriate?

o        What cultural and customary use and safe practice considerations should be taken into account?

All Needs Assessment Criteria are considerations from the Sphere Handbook