Overseas Development Institute - Assessing Humanitarian Need

Measuring humanitarian need: needs assessment and decision-making in the humanitarian sector

Save the Children aid supplies, Zimbabwe. Photo credit: Save UK

Putting into practice the humanitarian principle of impartiality - that assistance should be given on the basis of (and in proportion to) need alone - demands both an understanding of what constitutes 'need' and a way of measuring it with reasonable consistency.

This study considered ways of achieving a more consistent and accurate picture of the scale and nature of the problems people actually face in humanitarian crises, and how to ensure that decisions about response are properly informed by that understanding.

Key publications and presentations

The main findings of this research are summarised in an HPG Briefing Paper:

James Darcy and Charles-Antoine Hofmann, Humanitarian Needs Assessment and Decision-Making, HPG Briefing 13, September 2003

The full findings are contained in an HPG Report:

James Darcy and Charles-Antoine Hofmann, According to Need? Needs Assessment and Decision-Making in the Humanitarian Sector, HPG Report 15, September 2003. A shorter summary report is also available.

The report was launched at a meeting in September 2003.

Read the powerpoint presentation

Read the meeting report

A series of background papers support key aspects of the research:

Charles-Antoine Hofmann, Needs and Vulnerability in the Balkans: The Case of Serbia, HPG Background Paper, September 2003

James Darcy, Andre Griekspoor, Adele Harmer and Fiona Watson, The Southern Africa Crisis: A Critical Review of Needs Assessment Practice and Its Influence on Resource Allocation, HPG Background Paper, September 2003

Mark Bradbury, Charles-Antoine Hofmann, Stephanie Maxwell, Dineke Venekamp and Abigail Montani, Measuring Humanitarian Needs: Need Assessment and Resource Allocation in Southern Sudan and Somalia, HPG Background Paper, September 2003