Community Needs Assessment Paper

883 Words2 Pages

Needs assessment can be defined as the process of pinpointing the reasons for gaps in learning and/or performance in communities and organisations (Gupta, 1999). Needs assessment is a systematic approach in identifying social problems, their extent and accurately defining the target population and the nature of their needs (Rossi, Freeman, Lipsey & Mark, 2004; Gupta, 1999). Needs assessment is a useful planning process in a community program development cycle that is dynamic and flexible in nature, this is because it is often that tailored to meet community characteristics. This paper presents a practical analyses of the social, cultural and gender issues that need to be taken into account before conducting a needs assessment especially in …show more content…

Community needs assessment involves research and consultation with a representative sample of stakeholders and potential project beneficiaries to ensure that the concerns of all are heard and incorporated into an appropriate project design (Rossi, Freeman, Lipsey & Mark, 2004; Gupta, 1999). Community needs assessment not only uncovers the needs of a given community but it also uncovers the recourses and strengths found in that community that may be used in addressing the needs (Gupta, 1999; Grayson, 2002).
Ethical consideration in relation to a conducting a needs assessment in a multicultural …show more content…

Informed consent entails giving participants adequate information about the purpose of the data collection. Ethically, change agents will also be required to provide prospective subjects with information pertaining to what will be included in the research, how data will analysed and what the end result is likely to be.
Confidentiality and anonymity are an essential construct of informed consent. Ethically, prospective subjects are supposed to be provide with the promise of confidentiality and anonymity on details of a personal nature that have the ability to compromise the individual. Agreements on confidentiality and anonymity need to be recorded either verbally or through written

More about Community Needs Assessment Paper

Open Document