Needs Assessment Tool Kit for Programs to Help Young Children in Areas Affected by HIV

This is an extremely comprehensive guide as to how to conduct a survey of children’s needs in a particular area. It has been piloted in Zimbabwe and explains how to conduct a survey in 25 clusters of 5 households each. It is supported by a training manual and is also available in 4 parts. Although it is a huge document, the text is only 31 pages. The remainder consists of various appendices, particularly appendix 5 on report tables which is over 100 pages. The text is divided into six sections – an introduction; planning the survey; methods; field work; data entry and analysis and generation of results. The text is very detailed an practical. For example, the section on planning covers a whole range of issues including staffing, translation, training and logistics. Data entry requires particular software called Child Needs Assessment (CNA). This is based on EPI INFO and can be downloaded for free from http://64.106.149.11/aidshome.html# The document has 12 appendices which include calculating sample size; generating random numbers; explaining survey questions; CNA software installation; report tables; glossary of terms; survey instrument; blank survey template for translation; data dictionary; instructions for anthropometric measurements; consent form and a list of other resources.