Our club is planning on a series of community needs assessments during the Rotary year 2010-11. Thanks to the rich, generous and free information available on the Internet, we have come up with a small document showcasing a few pointers on making a plan for such assessments. And we would like to encourage visitors of our club website to take some time to read through this blog and post your valuable comments. Your comments will help us identify the right communities to partner with to conceive, undertake and execute small and large sustainable community economic development projects.
A community needs assessment is a way of gathering information about a community’s opinions, needs, challenges, and assets used to determine which project(s) will meet the real needs of the community.
Our assessment committee will be comprised of knowledgeable Rotarians who are familiar with the community and will be able to dedicate the time and resources necessary to assess the community’s needs. In conducting the assessment, the committee will work with community leaders and members at large. The following are some community needs assessment tools that our committee could use:
Interviews – Collect information from community members who are in a position to know community needs. These people might be community leaders, professionals, or other individuals who have affiliations with particular organizations or agencies.
Public forum – Bring a wide range of community members together at public meetings to gather information via group discussions.
Focus group – Obtain opinions and ideas from a small, targeted group of community members.
Survey – Use a formal survey or questionnaire to collect information from a wide range of community members.
Secondary data analysis – Review and analyze data that has already been collected regarding community issues and needs.
Asset mapping – Gather information about existing community assets and resources.
Some factors that might influence the type of assessment selected include time, cost, target audience, and available manpower. Ideally a community needs assessment should include a combination of tools.
Below are the basic steps in conducting a community needs assessment.
• Determine the community to be assessed
• Select a community needs assessment tool(s)
• Develop a plan for the assessment (who, what, when, where, how)
• Implement the assessment using the selected tool(s)
• Analyze the results
• Prepare report detailing the results
• Use report to determine club intervention(s)
The type of information to be gathered will depend on the individual community and its specific needs. However, the following information should be gathered in all community needs assessments:
• Description of the community and applicable statistics
• Needs identified by community leaders and members
• Current action being taken to meet community needs
• Local resources available to help meet community needs
• Opportunities for projects
• Challenges to projects
• Involvement of the community in the project
• Long-term sustainability of the project by the community
Once gathered, the information should be analyzed and compiled into a report and shared with the club’s board, all project partners, and community members that were particularly involved in providing information for the assessment. In an effort to assist Rotarians, TRF has prepared a Community Needs Assessment form that provides a template for recording information gathered during the assessment. This form is available for download from the RI website and should be completed and attached to the Matching Grant application for grant requests of US$25,001 and above.
Based on the needs identified during the assessment, we can select areas where we would like to become involved. The selection of a project should be based on the needs of a community as well as the resources available to our club and partners.
Would you like to assist us in identifying a community or a few communities where our fellow Rotarians could conduct a community needs assessment? If you do have anything in mind that you would like to share with us, please leave comment below.
A community needs assessment is a way of gathering information about a community’s opinions, needs, challenges, and assets used to determine which project(s) will meet the real needs of the community.
Our assessment committee will be comprised of knowledgeable Rotarians who are familiar with the community and will be able to dedicate the time and resources necessary to assess the community’s needs. In conducting the assessment, the committee will work with community leaders and members at large. The following are some community needs assessment tools that our committee could use:
Interviews – Collect information from community members who are in a position to know community needs. These people might be community leaders, professionals, or other individuals who have affiliations with particular organizations or agencies.
Public forum – Bring a wide range of community members together at public meetings to gather information via group discussions.
Focus group – Obtain opinions and ideas from a small, targeted group of community members.
Survey – Use a formal survey or questionnaire to collect information from a wide range of community members.
Secondary data analysis – Review and analyze data that has already been collected regarding community issues and needs.
Asset mapping – Gather information about existing community assets and resources.
Some factors that might influence the type of assessment selected include time, cost, target audience, and available manpower. Ideally a community needs assessment should include a combination of tools.
Below are the basic steps in conducting a community needs assessment.
• Determine the community to be assessed
• Select a community needs assessment tool(s)
• Develop a plan for the assessment (who, what, when, where, how)
• Implement the assessment using the selected tool(s)
• Analyze the results
• Prepare report detailing the results
• Use report to determine club intervention(s)
The type of information to be gathered will depend on the individual community and its specific needs. However, the following information should be gathered in all community needs assessments:
• Description of the community and applicable statistics
• Needs identified by community leaders and members
• Current action being taken to meet community needs
• Local resources available to help meet community needs
• Opportunities for projects
• Challenges to projects
• Involvement of the community in the project
• Long-term sustainability of the project by the community
Once gathered, the information should be analyzed and compiled into a report and shared with the club’s board, all project partners, and community members that were particularly involved in providing information for the assessment. In an effort to assist Rotarians, TRF has prepared a Community Needs Assessment form that provides a template for recording information gathered during the assessment. This form is available for download from the RI website and should be completed and attached to the Matching Grant application for grant requests of US$25,001 and above.
Based on the needs identified during the assessment, we can select areas where we would like to become involved. The selection of a project should be based on the needs of a community as well as the resources available to our club and partners.
Would you like to assist us in identifying a community or a few communities where our fellow Rotarians could conduct a community needs assessment? If you do have anything in mind that you would like to share with us, please leave comment below.
RSS Feed