| Crisis context/scope of work | Humanitarian needs assessment processes |
| Geographical scope | Global |
| Project period | August – December 2019 |
| Donors/partners | International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) |
| Budget | USD 21,540 |
| Problem | DFS’ solution |
| Each year, aid responders carry out 10-15 large-scale field surveys after humanitarian emergencies to assess the needs of crisis-affected populations. The challenge is that assessment processes are often slow and imperfect, taking weeks to design and implement. A 2017 study showed that coordinated needs assessments covered less than 50% of information needs in humanitarian settings over the previous 17 years. IFRC was seeking to strengthen the capacities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies to support needs assessments in emergencies. The Federation’s response to Tropical Cyclone Idai in Mozambique highlighted the need for sectoral consensus around assessment questions and so they needed a questionnaire builder that would allow analysts to build and manage surveys at both the county and field levels. | DFS created an online platform for IFRC enabling assessment coordinators and information analysts to quickly derive questionnaires from pre-established analytical frameworks. The solution allows IFRC responders to connect to the platform during an emergency, select the framework they need, and automatically generate an analysis and data collection plan. This allows IFRC to reduce the development burden on users. DFS built the platform with connections to other data collection tools like KoBo and also feeds the data into DEEP. The project leverages open-source technology to increase the speed and partial-automation of emergency needs assessments. |