Basic Needs (Alternative)

You want to gain a more in-depth and quantified understanding of the extent to which recipients perceive they can meet specific basic needs, and of the reasons why these needs cannot be met, where this is the case. By extension, this also enables better analysis of where gaps in assistance may exist, and appropriate means of addressing them. You have sufficient time and resources in terms of data collection and analysis, recognizing that this is a relatively more intensive and time-consuming option.

How to collect the data

• The list of specific basic needs can be identified based on the intended outcomes of the project, which can be referenced from the project design and log frame, as well as the MEB. They may broadly correspond with specific sectors. Ideally the project design and MEB will be informed by the priority needs identified by the target population.
• The need to tailor these questions to the project means that a standardized questionnaire for all interventions isn’t possible, although they can follow a standard model/approach.
• The number of basic needs that you choose to cover can be guided by considerations of what’s of most relevance to the project (and the target population), and what’s manageable in terms of the length of the questionnaire.
• The example below is adapted from a questionnaire being piloted by Save the Children. It provides a question and response options for one specific basic need for illustrative purposes (see Annex 3 for a longer version with further specific needs). The response options for the extent to which needs are met correspond with those for the cross-cutting single indicator.