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OBJECTIVES |
Give an overview of the Needs Assessment Process and SEAGA tools that can be used for a Participatory and Gender-sensitive Needs Assessment.
See: SEAGA Guiding Principles and SEAGA Tools.
Module links: Targeting and Procurement
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KEY CONCEPTS |
Access to resources and inputs, Agricultural and relief needs, Checklists, Crop and Food Supply Assessment Missions (CFSAM), Joint Food and Nutrition Assessment Missions (JFNAM), National food balance sheet, Needs assessment, Nutritional gaps.
In the wake of a disaster or emergency, assessment of the most urgent needs of the men, women and children living in the most affected areas takes place. These needs will represent the basis for the design of a relief programme. During this phase the areas of intervention and the beneficiaries are identified. A more specific assessment of individual or group needs of registered beneficiaries is further refined when relief operations take place.
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Needs assessment is a process of understanding the essential and immediate relief needs, of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged men, women and children, in order to restore their food and livelihood security status following a disaster. |
In the reconstruction phase, it is important that project planners properly assess household composition (female-headed or orphan-headed households as a % of total population) and labour availability (family labour shortages due to disability, deaths, and old age).
The integration of gender analysis into every element of the assessment process is essential to understand the specific needs of each population segment. This is necessary to meet overall and specific objectives, such as principled or equitable distribution of aid and ensuring food security and recovery of agricultural production. The analysis of the impact of the crisis on communities begins with an understanding of vulnerability and coping mechanisms.
Female-headed households in rural areas are often the most economically and politically disadvantaged population group. The information on these households should be correlated with welfare indicators (e.g. maternal mortality, fertility, teenage pregnancy rates, literacy levels and employment rates) in order to understand their productive capacity and their capabilities as food securers for their dependents.
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WFP needs assessments are often conducted in cooperation with FAO - Crop and Food Supply Assessment Missions (CFSAM), and UNHCR - Joint Food Needs Assessment Missions (JFNAM).
The focus of FAO/WFP joint assessment missions is to assess the national food supply situation during and after an emergency and to determine the need for international food assistance.
These missions are mounted by GIEWS in FAO and VAM in WFP and are based on indications provided by FAO’s global information and early warning network. Regular missions are launched to the most insecure countries and sub-regions.
Agencies agree on the modalities of the assistance, composition of the food basket, ration size, duration of assistance, and non-food items that may impact the nutritional status of the beneficiaries. As the majority of the refugee population is composed of women and children, special consideration is given to these vulnerable groups.
The approved per capita minimum daily food energy requirement is 2100 Kilocalories. The food and nutrition situation of refugees should be reviewed at least every 12 months.
WFP needs assessments are carried out when urgent information on possible food aid needs is required, in particular when the importance and complexity of the operations exceeds the possibilities of a CFSAM or JFNAM. Very often, WFP assessments are also part of a management review exercise in protracted relief operations, when a better understanding and an improved impact of the WFP operation are required.
WFP intervenes when refugee caseloads exceed 5,000 persons. WFP is responsible to determine whether and how much food assistance is required for all or only part of the refugee population. The food item needs assessed (in terms of specific commodities and quantities) are cereals (in grain or flour form), edible oil and fats, pulses and sources of proteins, blended food (like corn soya blend), salt and sugar, and high-energy biscuits. In the case of whole grain provision, the availability of milling resources or facilities should also be assessed.
The CFSAMs are normally planned to be in country towards the end of the main cropping season, when production can be estimated in a reliable fashion. Accordingly, the food supply and demand situation in the forthcoming marketing year is analysed at national and sub-national levels, with the aim of estimating food deficits and the assistance required for meeting them. These two objectives are approached separately for estimation purposes.
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Statistical data collected at national and sub-national levels, from official aid agency sources and VAM systems, in many cases need to be integrated with qualitative data in order to gather gender-differentiated information. This is required to tailor the emergency intervention to the specific needs of men and women.
In general terms, emergency assistance is designed to cover the gap between minimum household-consumption requirements and resources available to affected household during a crisis.
The minimum food needs are those which can be neither produced, nor acquired by other means of income, food reserves, remittances or collection of wild foods. Needs can also be limited in time, requiring coverage of the deficit until a minimum quantity can again be realized. The need to sell significant amounts of food produced in order to meet other essential expenses, such as medicine, schooling, fuel, wood, and soap, should also be considered.
This type of assessment can be divided into two related categories:
a) Wasting is the principle type of growth failure associated with acute protein energy malnutrition among children and immediate causes of malnutrition. Severely malnourished children are easily identified. Mild and moderate malnutrition is more difficult to detect by visual observation. Cultural practices may favour one group over others. While nutrition assessments are targeting children, vulnerable adults such as the elderly are often left out and these may be a very vulnerable and affected group.
b) Causal factors are more complex. Assessment requires an understanding of the interplay and inter-relationships of food access caring practices, health services and the environment. Armed conflict and displacement have profound effects on these factors. A gender perspective in the assessment process will help determine the causes and factors affecting all levels and sections of the community and household.
Assessment missions are concerned with factors affecting agriculture activities over the season following the disaster, or on a continuing basis in protracted relief and recovery situations.
Priority types of assistance required to eliminate important constraints to production resulting from the disaster for each affected group, number of target beneficiary households; and the amount of each type of assistance required per group are profiled.
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Emergency interventions for distribution of basic inputs should be designed based on an analysis of agricultural production systems applying a gender perspective. There is scope to strengthen the participation of men and women in carrying out diagnoses of emergency interventions and to make communities aware of the role of women in farm production units. This will contribute to furthering widespread recognition of women’s contribution to the rural economy, and encourage attitude changes amongst both men and women. |
In formulating priority types of assistance, an essential rule is to carefully compare the identified needs with the type of commodities to be provided, and the possibility of funding (locally and internationally). Resources are not always available to meet the needs of all those affected. Proper prioritisation, based on the results of the PRA process, is needed to concentrate on the means of production necessary and sufficient for short-term recovery of livelihoods and food production of the most needy population.
Emergency interventions for distribution of basic inputs should be designed in a participatory way based on an analysis of agricultural production systems, with a gender perspective. For this, it is necessary to strengthen the participation of men and women in assessments, raising awareness of women’s roles in farming. The participatory tools indicated above will help emergency operators in understanding the dynamics of divisions of work, access/use/control of resources, and decision-making.
When calculating needs for inputs and means of production (e.g. through crop/farm models), labour requirements against availability of labour are normally considered. The gender analysis takes into account the fact that the availability of labour is different for female and male-headed land and animal holdings. The holding size for which requirements are to be evaluated, is frequently different for each. Time and energy-saving technologies should be specifically considered and designed for women who carry the burden of major workloads.
The quantification of female-headed households and farming/livelihood systems will provide the needed information base to yield a gender diversified need assessment process with proper analysis of impact differences on men and women. This should be conducted through general data collection at central level and from PRA field analysis.
When crises occur, women very often assist with or totally take over activities normally performed by men. For proper operations design, women’s access to services such as credit, extension, training, supply sources, transport and mobility should be understood, as in many cases these may have been targeted at men.
Access to land is not only a legal matter or a customary issue, but also a question of power. Inputs distributed in emergency interventions might in some cases negatively affect women’s control of crop production and land cultivation, as men might be attracted by the increased revenues and decide to replace women in taking responsibility for the introduced activity.
Seeds are the most frequently needed form of emergency assistance inputs for crop production. The timing of food aid in case of extreme food insecurity is a determining factor in people’s ability to retain seed for the following cropping season.
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‘Seed Security’: The sustained ability of all farmers to have sufficient quantities of the desired types of seed at the right time’. It has two aspects: the availability of and the access to quality seed. It does not only refer to the quantities and qualities of seed, but also to the timing (i.e. availability of seed at the time of planting), the finance (ability to have or purchase), and equity (access to available seed for all farmers in the community).
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The different expertise and knowledge of men and women of the local environment should be considered during needs assessments. Men have often been exposed longer to improved production technologies, and their holdings are often larger and focus more on cash crops and large animals. Women are in many cases more knowledgeable about traditional techniques of production. Rural women are largely responsible for seed and planting material selection, improvement and adaptation of staple food-plant varieties. When seed sources are compromised by a disaster, women can often identify adapted varieties and ensure the means to restore production.
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While seed distribution emergency relief programmes have helped farmers, they have often not been able to restore the adapted crop diversity lost with the disaster. In some cases new untested varieties have been introduced, bringing new diseases, pests and reduced yields. More importantly, untested material can pollute germplasm of the local varieties, thereby accelerating genetic erosion.
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Seed and planting material requirements can be analyzed through participatory techniques. Examples include crop types, varieties, rates and plant population densities, cultivable area, amount per household, and sowing and planting times. In crises, the inclusion of seed protection (food) rations to last during the cultivation period until harvesting time should also be considered.
The repeated local production and saving of seeds by farmers can change the genetic composition of the variety. Quality Declared seed can lose its characteristics after three to five years (e.g. wheat). When this change is negative, it is called ‘degeneration’. This can be managed through improving degenerated varieties or preventing varieties from degenerating.
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Variety maintenance and improvement have different objectives but are closely related and involve similar activities. In certain situations, these are based on the selection of seed from plants with particular defined, desired characteristics - eliminating the less desirable ones (positive and negative selection).
When a farmer is not using his or her own seed, there are different sources from which to obtain seed. The reasons for using seed from other sources depend on quality and price.
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There are two major aspects to ‘seed’ from a farmer’s point of view: quality and availability (sources and seed security). Strategies to assist seed systems have to consider both these aspects.
Small-scale farmers usually prefer to use their own seed. It is the cheapest, most readily available, and of a variety that the farmer is familiar with. The farmer knows the seed quality, and the seed is available at planting time.
A number of factors determine the demand for seed by a household, a community or a village. The fluctuation of the demand from season to season usually follows a pattern determined by the incidence of pests and diseases and the general yield level in the region. There are different reasons, however, why a farmer may be using seed from other sources.
The objective for including agro-chemicals, particularly fertilisers, in relief packages is to promote a rapid return to agriculture productivity and food security, at least to pre-disaster levels, by boosting crop yields.
While seed is generally freely provided, agro-chemicals may be distributed on a sale basis to affected farmers. Funds generated are generally used to support the purchase of other means to rehabilitate infrastructure, or to create a revolving fund for further procurement.
Special considerations are often necessary for the purchase of agro-chemicals by female-headed households, as this might increase the need for earning cash income "forcing" women to agricultural wage labour. This in turn could further increase the workload of women.
Thus, agro-chemicals should be provided based on specific needs, requests and knowledge of their use by target beneficiaries. Application rates and relevant relief packages should accordingly consider the gender- differentiated holding sizes.
The handling of agro-chemicals is hazardous. As the funding source and procurer of agro-chemicals, FAO assumes various responsibilities (at least the technical-scientific responsibility). Recommendations for the use of agro-chemicals should not be initiated unless precautionary measures and product responsibilities are first established (usually the buyer at the time of purchase). Only those products that are registered in the country should be ordered. Therefore, please contact the national registration authority, normally the national Plant Protection Service.
Procurement has to be combined with the necessary protective clothing for the user. Highly hazardous chemicals should only be applied by highly skilled labour.
Self-reliance and sustainable integrated agricultural production at farm level should be considered in terms of integrated pesticide management (IPM) approaches. Women, due to insufficient exposure to extension and training, are likely to lack knowledge in pesticides use and therefore adequate IPM technical assistance services should be foreseen. In addition, low-cost and adapted means easily available in local markets must be given preference to ensure a sustainable use of pesticides.
The introduction of elements of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programme should be considered whenever pesticides are going to be supplied. Short-term consultancies should include in their terms of reference the identification of proposals for future IPM activities.
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These tools (and implements) are essential means of production and usually last only two seasons. Disaster affected communities often loose their tools and implements, or sell them as a coping measure to purchase food. Frequently they have no cash to purchase new ones. These items thus form part of relief packages.
Although there are significant geographical differences in the levels and types of production implements, the hand-hoe is generally the most widely used. Several gender-related ergonomic differences should be considered when selecting hand-hoes (e.g., length of handle, blade’s width and weight and the method of fixing the blade to the handle). In order to manufacture implements tailored to women’s physical characteristics, all relevant information should be collected. Consultations between blacksmiths and female farmers should also be envisaged to ensure the production of suitable tools.
The introduction of improved technologies (such as new implements, animal-traction or mechanisation) is usually not foreseen in relief operations, as this would require heavy inputs of training and technical assistance. Technologies such as mechanisation often displace women’s wage-earning opportunities. Adapted and acceptable technologies that reduce women’s workload could be introduced in emergency interventions and specific situations.
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In the Philippines a small de-hulling machine was designed because de-hulling was the most time-consuming and laborious activity of women’s post-harvest duties. The machine reduced women’s work time allowing them to carry out in a few minutes what would take several hours to do by hand. |
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Livestock support is a more extensive topic than just restocking. Restocking programmes, involving the distribution of live animals, are often exposed to considerable risk. They are subject to problems of disease and logistics constraints (e.g. feeding), and are expensive. However, livestock = human food security for many people.
Women play key roles in raising small animals and in harvesting and processing livestock products for household consumption and sale. Men are often the owners and sellers of large livestock. In disaster situations men often migrate, join the war or seek off-farm employment, and women assume greater responsibilities in animal husbandry. Moreover, in response to the expanding urban demand for livestock products, peri- and intra-urban livestock raising have increased as income earning enterprises, with a greater participation of women and children. Ultimately, in most cities of developing countries, women are also vendors of prepared food which often utilize animal products.
Women frequently rear backyard poultry and small ruminants. Poultry restocking projects implemented with associated training and projects involving in-country redistribution, for example of small ruminants and draft-animals, have proved to be successful (e.g. Azerbaijan, Eritrea and Somalia).
Widows often do well when restocked. Women should preferably be actively engaged to the extent possible in target community consultations. Restocking helps to facilitate family reunification as displaced persons will tend to go "back on the range" if given enough animals (e.g. Afghanistan: about 70 small livestock per family - minimum). Families who have some stock of their own and are still in the pastoralist system should be targeted, i.e. not totally destitute with little or no respect or traditional rites in the community.
In the case of traditional animal traction with women’s active participation, the provision of draught animals with ploughs could contribute to alleviate their excessive workload and increase their labour productivity.
SEAGA analysis is frequently under utilized in emergency programming. Participatory techniques assist in the identification of the gender roles in managing different animal resources; understanding the different end-users for various categories of livestock; and in the assessment of needs for live animals, feed and veterinary remedies.
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International transportation of emergency animal feeds is in principle not supported by FAO, though there may be a case for importing trace minerals. The supply of supplementary feeds can be considered, after carefully assessing their cost-effectiveness in extensive grazing systems needs. This is more easily justified for breeding and draft animals than for whole herds.
In extensive systems, the upgrading or rehabilitation of degraded rangelands, for example through oversowing with legumes or certain perennial grasses, might be an option in limited patches of rangeland where soil and moisture conditions are favourable.
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Special consideration of environmental hazards and related dangers of overgrazing should be made, particularly in areas of forced high human concentration - such as IDP and refugee settlements. In these areas re-stocking might not be advisable. Intervention strategies need to reflect these realities by incorporating support for livelihoods programmes as a part of quality overall emergency response.
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Emergency assistance may be required to restore production and livelihoods of artisan fishery systems, affected by natural disasters (storms or tidal waves) or complex emergencies, where boats and equipment may have been lost. A gender-sensitive assessment is needed to determine the number and condition of affected people, boats, fishing gear and equipment in different locations before and after the event. This should take into consideration fishing, preservation, processing and transport methods; alternative sources of livelihood; and current and prospected market trends for fish produce.
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In fishing communities women tend to predominate in the handling, preservation and processing of the fish product: they assist in unloading boats and nets, they work at sun-drying, salting, smoking, preparing and processing fish. All side activities (such as collecting water, salt, and fuel) are also often managed by women and are very time-consuming and physically exhausting. In some regions women are also directly involved in fishing from shore, boats and in making and mending fishing gear. They also contribute significantly to feeding and harvesting in aquaculture enterprises.
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[16] Source: Mowbray,
1995. [17] Source: WFP Modified Emergency Needs Assessment Guidelines. October, 1999. |
