Session: 3 Helping People Identify Their Needs

Rationale

To understand how to help local people determine their own needs for development, Volunteers need to become aware of the complex web of people and institutions that affect the choices that individuals make. As well as considering the larger issues, many Volunteers also need practice using needs assessment techniques that work with people with limited education. Regardless of their assignment, Volunteers will benefit from learning "community-based" techniques in order to work with more understanding in predominantly oral societies.

Objectives of Session

· To negotiate the content of the rest of the workshop based on the results of the

Interests/Skills Inventory.

· To reflect on the outside influences that affect people's determination of their own needs.
· To practice needs assessment techniques that can be used with people of limited education.

Activity Sequence

NOTE: This session is 15 minutes longer than usual.

Peace Corps NFE Manual Reference

Chapter 4 - Helping People Identify their Needs

Materials Needed

· Flip chart paper
· Markers
· Masking tape
· Oranges or other edible fruit with multiple seeds - One for each pair of participants (for Warm-up activity)
· Results of Interests/Skills Inventory (See Trainer Preparation, 2)
· Flip Chart:

Schedule of Remainder of Workshop

· Handouts:

Case Study: Who Determines Needs in Development? - One per participant NFE Manuals (pages 65-68 and pages 80-81) OR handouts of Needs Assessment Techniques - Problem Tree, Balloon Exercise, Before and After Pictures

· Description of Local Needs Assessment technique - Enough for a quarter of your group

(See Trainer Preparation, 5)

Trainer Preparation e NOTE: This session requires extensive preparation. It will be best to do at least Step 5 before the workshop begins.

1. Read Peace Corps NFE Manual, Chapter 4.
2. With your co-trainer, read through the collected Interests/Skills inventories (from Session 1, Activity 5). Compile results of participants' interests by noting down the numbers of responses in each category on a blank Interests/Skills Inventory. Circle the most popular categories. Note the least popular ones as well. Discuss the results with your co-trainer and decide how you will be able to alter the rest of the workshop based on the responses.

Now compile results of participants' skills by noting names and other comments of participants on a blank form. Discuss how you might use the participants' indicated skills in the rest of the sessions.

Prepare a flip chart with all the possible session titles on it to use in negotiating the remaining sessions with the participants.

3. Read through the session with your co-trainers and decide on the options you want to use.

4. If you choose to present the case study in Activity 3 as a role play (see OPTION, page 48), find two other staff or participants to present it with you.

5. Visit a local development organization that uses a participatory approach and find out what needs assessment technique(s) they use with people of limited education. Collect any materials they might have or write down a summary of their methods. For use in

Activity 4. (See page 62 at the end of the session for an example from the Solomon
Islands.)

6. Meet briefly with participants who signed up to do the evaluation for the session if they need help choosing or getting materials for their activities.

7. Assemble materials.

Activity 1: Warm-up - How Many Trees Are In An Orange?

Activity Time 10 minutes

Purpose To demonstrate that often it is useful to immerse yourself in a problem before you can see all of its dimensions.

Step-by-step

1. Draw a quick picture of an orange tree (or other local fruit tree-the fruit must be edible and have multiple seeds) on the board. Tell the group that it is relatively easy for anyone to determine the number of oranges on a tree (through observation and careful counting). But some tasks require immersion into them before the answer can be obtained.

2. Give one orange (or other fruit) to every other participant. Ask them to work in pairs for a few minutes to determine how many potential trees there are within each orange, e NOTE: Let them find the solution for themselves: to dissect (or eat) the orange and count the number of seeds inside.

3. Connect the activity to the session topic by asking the group "How is doing a needs assessment like finding out how many trees are in an orange?" (-You need to really get into it to find the answer, to really understand the situation of the local people." "You can't just observe and count things, you need to immerse yourself in the environment," etc.)

Activity 2: Negotiation of Content of Remainder of Workshop

Activity Time 30 minutes

Purpose To demonstrate how to use the results of a needs assessment and to "practice what we preach" by modifying the workshop according to participants' interests, needs and skills.

Step - by - Step

1. In order to give the participants a little background on needs assessments, you might open the session with a "mini needs assessment." Take 10 or 15 minutes to promote a discussion of needs assessments, asking some of the following questions. Use examples given by participants wherever appropriate to ask further questions or demonstrate points you would like to make.

· How many people know what a needs assessment is?
· Who would like to give a definition?
· How many have ever done one?
· What kinds of tools did you use?
· What is the purpose of a good needs assessment?
· What can happen if a needs assessment is done poorly? Or not done at all? Can anyone think of an example of a situation where no needs assessment was done (or a poor one was done)? (Example: a water pump put in by technical people in a place that is extremely inconvenient for people to go.)

2. Let the group know that you will now try to model how the results of a needs assessment can be used according to the results of the Interests/Skills Inventory they filled out in Session 1.

Post the flip chart of the possible remaining sessions. Let the group know that you will now show them how you have modified the content of the rest of the workshop.

3. Report the general results of the compiled answers to participants' interests, asking participants if the way you have structured the content of the workshop meets their needs reasonably well. Ask for their specific suggestions for changes, if any.

4. Ask participants for help in interpreting some of the results if you are not sure about them.

For example: There seems to be only moderate interest in critical incidents. Is that because you already know how to use them?

5. Briefly report the results of the skills inventory and ask those who indicated skills in various areas if they would be willing to act as resource people, or help facilitate parts of sessions. Ask them to meet with you after the session to plan this.

Activity 3: Case Study - Who Determines Needs in Development?

Activity Time 75 minutes

Purpose To reflect on the outside influences that affect people's determination of their own needs.

Step - by - Step

1. Lead into the activity by saying something like this:

Now that you have participated in a practical example of a needs assessment, you might want to take a look at some of the larger issues around who determines needs in development. You will be looking at a case study about someone in a developing country whose idea of what he needs gets very complicated when you consider all the players involved

2. Let the group know that the case study has three parts, and that each part has questions for discussion. Tell them you will hand out the first part of the case study and read it aloud. Participants will then pull their chairs together in small groups of four or five and discuss the questions that follow it for 15 minutes. Then you will read the next part, and groups will discuss that part, and so on. After the last small group discussion the large group will process the case study together.

3. Ask if there are any questions about the activity.

4. Pass out Part 1 and Questions for Discussion. Read Part 1 aloud (or have a participant do so). Have the groups begin their discussions. Keep time (15 minutes).

5. After 15 minutes, hand out Part 2 and Questions for Discussion. Read aloud as before.

Have groups discuss the questions for 15 minutes.

6. After another 15 minutes are up, hand out Part 3 and Questions for Discussion. Read aloud and have groups discuss the questions.

7. Take 20 minutes to process the case study in a large group, bringing out the following:

· Participants' ideas of the people and institutions that played a role in determining Victor's needs.
· Participants' ideas of who ultimately determined Victor's needs.
· Other examples of how needs are determined by a complex chain of people and institutions either in participants' experience in the host country or at home (you might mention Americans' "need" for VCRs, compact disk players, computers, fancy kitchen appliances and other paraphernalia).
· Participants' ideas, in the light of the discussion, of how as Peace Corps
Volunteers they can best help people determine their needs. If response to this question is slow or hesitant, use BUZZ GROUPS to bring out ideas (discuss with your neighbor for 5 minutes) or call for a quick brainstorm where any possible response is OK. List on flip chart paper and post for further reflection.

NOTE: There are many interesting issues in this case study. Encourage discussion, but do not expect that all the questions will be resolved or that participants will agree, even on very basic points. Tell the group that you hope they will continue to reflect on these issues as they start (or continue) their Peace Corps service.

OPTION- facilitation Practice

To give Volunteers practice facilitating large group discussions you may want to proceed this way:

1. Place all the chairs in a circle.
2. Hand out Section 1 and questions to all participants.
3. Read a few lines of the first section. Have the person sitting next to you read the next few lines (or paragraph) and so on. The person to read the last part of the section facilitates the discussion with the large group for 15 minutes.
4. Continue with all three sections. Then continue processing the discussion as in 7 on page 47.

NOTE: If you have any concerns about the reading (and/or English) level of any of the participants, you might let people volunteer to read and facilitate each segment. Alternatively, you might choose several people who indicated facilitation skills as their strong point on the Interests/Skills Inventory and ask them to facilitate this activity.

OPTION - Role Play

This story (based on a real incident) was written to be used as either a case study or as a series of role plays. You, your cm trainer and other Peace Corps staff and/or HCNs involved in the training may decide to present it dramatically, using the same processing questions at the same points in the story.

Tip: As you prepare for the role play don't try to memorize lines; get the gist of the story by reading it aloud to your group of performers, then having someone retell the story without the text, then finally by acting out the parts. The last section can be read as a letter by a voice "off-stage." while John sits listening to it.

NOTE: Be sure that a culturally sensitive person plays the part of Victor; this character needs to show dignity and strength and be given particular respect by the other characters and by the audience.

Activity 4: Needs Assessment Techniques - Each One Teach One

Activity Time 60 minutes

Purpose To practice participatory needs assessment techniques used successfully with people who have limited education.

Step - by - Step

1. Let participants know that they will split into small groups to study needs assessment techniques that are commonly used with people who have limited education. Each group will work on a different technique. After 30 minutes of working together, each participant will find a partner from another group to teach their technique to.

2. Refer the group to the Peace Corps NFE Manual, pages 65-68 and page 80-81, where they will find three techniques: Problem Tree, Balloon Exercise, and Before and After Pictures. (Or, give them the handout, Needs Assessment Techniques on page 57.) Show them the fourth technique-a local example (See Trainer Preparation, 5) and briefly explain where you found it. Ask participants to form four groups, each working on one technique.

NOTE: The fourth needs assessment technique should be one used locally by a Non-Governmental Organization in your host country. (See page 62 for an example from the Solomon Islands.)

Although you may have to do some hunting around to find a local needs assessment technique, your extra effort will add relevance to your program and help participants begin to form important links with other NFE practitioners.

If you cannot find an acceptable local technique, use the example from the Solomon Islands or a technique from one of the reference books in the bibliography. Or use three techniques and have participants form three small groups. E NOTE: The Women's Involvement Wheel (page 62) from the Solomon Islands is used by a local Non-Governmental Organization in the following way. Solomon Islanders who speak the local languages work with groups of women in remote villages to help them understand their status (which is traditionally very low) in a visual way.

For each category in the wheel, individual women are asked to rate their own involvement on a scale of one to ten, one being low and ten high. The women then color in the appropriate section of each part of the wheel. The results are posted on the outside wall of the community center so that everyone can see the pattern and begin thinking about the possible need for change.

3. Suggest to participants that they first read the description of the technique on the handouts (or in the NFE Manual) and then decide on how to present it to a group with limited education, e NOTE: If the technique requires that they choose a specific problem (as in Problem Tree or Balloon Exercise) they should choose something obvious in the local context such as "Children are malnourished." "Clean water is not available. "The dispensary lacks malaria medication. If the technique requires that they draw pictures of the local scene (Before and After Pictures) have them first identify five or six obvious problems, as above, and draw them in the "Before" picture.

Ask them to practice the technique on each other, with the rest of their small group acting as the audience. Suggest that they keep the following things in mind:

· Many people are more comfortable with concrete examples that relate directly to their own experience. For example, instead of asking, "Why does this problem occur?" ask

"Why did this happen to you (or your neighbor)?. Instead of asking "What is the effect of poor sanitation?" ask

"What happens when people don't clean up their garbage?"

· Some people may also have difficulty with words that refer to concepts. Instead of asking for a cause, ask "Why?"

Instead of asking for an effect, ask "What happens when?.

Reference: Helping Health Workers Learn, pp. 26-4, 26-6 and 26-7.

4. Make flip chart paper and markers available to groups. Ask them to go to their break out rooms and begin.

5. Keep time (30 minutes).

6. Circulate and give suggestions while work is in progress and during the practice presentations. Watch for these common mistakes:

· Not using enough concrete examples.
· Using abstract concepts and vocabulary (e.g. "cause," "reasons").
· Not leaving enough room on the flip chart diagram (for Problem Tree) to write responses of the group clearly.
· Talking too much, not asking for enough input from the group.

Exercise and Problem Tree is a difficult exercise for local people who have never seen this before, even when the presenter uses concrete examples and simple vocabulary.

· Using an inappropriate tone of voice. Ask an HCN with experience working in the community to model an appropriate story-telling tone and vocabulary if Volunteers have not had much contact with local people yet.

7. After 30 minutes are up, call the groups back together. Ask everyone to choose a partner from another group to present their technique to. (Each One Teach One Technique)

8. Suggest to the group that the partners might play the part of a local person during the presentation and then give constructive suggestions afterwards. ("Tell your partner three things you liked about their presentation and one area for improvement.") Each participant has 10 minutes to present their technique and five minutes to hear and respond to their partner's suggestions. Then partners switch roles.

9. Have pairs go to venous corners of the training room and the breakout rooms to do their presentations.

10. Keep time (30 minutes).

Let pairs know when the first 15 minutes are up, and that they should now let their partners start their presentations.

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FOR IST: Have groups work together to discuss what works and what doesn't work in the host country and to adapt the techniques to the host country culture and/or to their specific work situations.

For example: A community development Volunteer in the South Pacific adapted the balloon exercise by replacing the balloons (which weren't common where he worked) with a creeping weed known to every villager. The weed grows by sending out runners (analogous to the strings attaching the balloons). Offshoots could be chopped off with a bush knife, representing a temporary solution to the problem. However, to get rid of the whole problem it must be attacked at the source - just as the plant must be dug out by its roots where it began.

OPTION

You (or the group) may choose to focus on only two needs assessment techniques that are particularly applicable to your local situation. Each participant chooses someone from the other group to present to.

NOTE: If you would like to reinforce the Experiential Learning Cycle at this point, you could refer to the wall chart (from Session 2) and ask participants how the activity they just did followed the cycle.
Experience = learning and teaching the needs assessment technique. WHAT? and SO WHAT? = giving and listening to feedback. NOW WHAT? = adapting and applying the technique to their assignments (IST).

OPTION

You may choose to add an extra evening session to bring in people from a local NGO to demonstrate a particular needs assessment technique that they use in local communities. Suggest that they actually carry out the technique with the workshop participants (or demonstrate it on each other) rather than telling them about it.

Activity 5: Evaluation of Session

Activity Time 10 minutes

Purpose To have participants plan and carry out an evaluation of the session.

Step - by - step

Ask participants who signed up to evaluate the session to carry it out. Use the results to tailor your next sessions to participants' needs.

· End of Session 3.

For Next Time

Participants should review Peace Corps NFE Manual Chapter 3, pp. 29-32 and read Chapter 7.

Time Saver #1

Time Saver #2

Time Saver #3

Abbreviate the entire session by conducting only Activity #3 Case Study: Who Determines Needs In Development as a single evening session. Plan to add 15 or 20 minutes of Negotiation (without the background on needs assessments) to the beginning of either Session 2 or Session 4. This Time Saver is recommended only if Volunteers are not likely to be involved in doing needs assessments in their work.

Total Time 75 minutes

RELATED REFERENCES (See Appendix III)
Kindervatter, S. Women Working Together

Srinivasen, L. Tools for Community Pamcipation

Case Study - Who Determines Needs in Development?

Part One
"I've come for cold water, John.
"Sure, come right in, Victor, help yourself."

Victor opened John's little fridge and poured some water into a tin cup. He stood there drinking slowly, admiring the Peace Corps refrigerator. "Warm water's no good, said Victor.

Do you want to sell me your fridge when you go back to the States? How much do you want

"Victor, I can't sell it to you, said John. Victor's yearly salary would hardly cover a refrigerator. Anyway, nobody in this village had electricity, and the kerosine to power the thing was rationed.

"John, I've been thinking. "Yeah?"

Victor was silent a long time. "I'm gonna get me an iron house. "An iron house?.

"Yeah. Brand new. "

"Who's selling iron houses, Victor?.

"A man from the States came to my cousin's village. He showed us a video." "A video? Out here?.

"Yeah," said Victor. "This whole house is made of iron. Not just the roof, John. Sides too." "Victor, I can't believe you'd want an iron house in this heat. These bamboo houses are so much cooler. John ran his hand over the sturdy center post and across the tightly woven leaf thatch of the ceiling. "It's beautiful construction, Victor. It's clean, cool, cheap to build. Keeps the rain out fine.

"Bamboo houses are no good, said Victor.

The two men sat in silence a little while longer.

"How much are you going to pay for this iron house?, asked John.

"Fifteen dollars a month until it's all paid up. The man is gonna give me a low cost loan', said Victor.

John was silent. Where was Victor going to find fifteen dollars a month? He could barely feed his family. "What is this outfit, anyway?. John muttered under his breath.

"What did you say, John?.

"Never mind. I suppose it's none of my lousiness' " said John. "Let's play cards

Questions for Discussion

Who is involved in determining Victor's needs so far? What are their points of view? Whose determination of Victor's needs is most accurate? Why do you think so?

Who Determines Needs in Development? - Part Two

John had decided to stay out of it. But when he saw the truck with the gleaming silver letters saying "EVERYONE DESERVES A PERMANENT HOME" parked beside the market in his village, he pulled up his moto and went looking for the person in charge.

"Excuse me, are you the one selling iron houses?" asked John.

"Yes indeed, I'm Bernie Castleman from Steel-gilt International. Would you like to see our brochure?"

"I'd be very interested, said John grimly.

"All steel construction," said Bernie, handing John a fistful of colorful leaflets. "This baby'll last seventy-five years. The simple A-frame design means we can ship 'em almost totally prefabricated. We can even lift 'em in by helicopter.

"How do you propose to ventilate these things?, asked John.

"Windows," said Bernie. "You have your choice of plate glass or steel shutters." "It'll be an oven," said John.

The salesman looked at John and smiled. "Where are you from?" he asked. "This is my village," said John.

"I meant in the States," laughed the salesman. "You're Peace Corps, right?" Yep, said John.

"Then you'll understand the need for our product here, said Bernie, suddenly serious. "Let me tell you something. I used to work for a Swiss watch company. I sold their top of the line item-twenty thousand dollars apiece. I got tired of it. I told myself, Bernie, you've got to do something for humanity. When I heard about Steel-gilt, I knew I'd found my true vocation.

John studied a brochure in silence.

"It's true they're a bit warm in this climate, said Bernie. But their durability makes up for that. We've put these A-frames up all over the States to house the homeless. We sell them abroad not only for homes, but for primary schools and medical clinics. We've lifted them into remote areas during a famine to store relief supplies. We've sold them as instant medical laboratories. They've kept grain from spoiling on the docks during work slow-downs. And all this for less than a tenth of the price of a home in the U.S."

"But a guy in this village doesn't have anywhere near a tenth of the price of a home in the U.S. said John.

"That's why we provide financing," said Bernie. "It's a better deal than any bank would give a poor man in this country. This is his one real chance to move up in the world. These people want Western goods. They want a decent life for their families. We're here to help them accomplish that. Did you know we are a non-profit organization?"

John sighed.

"In fact, our founder is a former Peace Corps Volunteer," said Bernie.

"Then you must understand the potential damage you're doing in this village," said John. "There's no housing shortage here. My friend can get bamboo for next to nothing, and all his relatives will pitch in to build him a perfectly good house that meets his needs and doesn't put him into debt for life. "

"And blows down in the next rainstorm," said Bernie. "Sure, but he can build it right up again," said John.

"Well let me ask you this, said Bernie. "Is your friend satisfied with his fine bamboo house? Have you ever considered what he wants?"

Questions for Discussion

What other individuals and organizations might now be involved in determining Victor's needs? What do you think their motives are?

Who Determines Needs in Development? - Part Three

"What are you doing, John?" asked Victor.

"I'm writing a letter.

"To your family?.

"No, said John. "I'm writing to a friend of mine. A former Peace Corps Volunteer.

"What are you telling him?, asked Victor.

"I'm telling him about my friend Victor, smiled John.

"You tell him about my new iron house that I got last week, said Victor.

"Yeah, said John. "I'm telling him, all right.

Dear John,

Thank you for writing me your concerns about Steel-gilt's "Housing For All program. As a former Peace Corps Volunteer, I appreciate and share your concerns about the people in your village. However, perhaps I have a different perspective on the problem. Let me take this opportunity to share a few facts with you.

According to statistics collected by Aid for Universal Development, forty-seven percent of the world's population is without permanent shelter. The implications of this are staggering in terms of health and safely hazards. As A.U.D. points out, bamboo structures harbor insects and provide easy entrance to rats. The floors rot easily and cause household accidents. Furthermore, untended cooking fires can consume a bamboo house in minutes. Natural materials may be cheap, but studies show that houses made from tropical fibers do not meet basic standards for the quality of life that every human being deserves.

As for your concerns about the financial aspects of Sted-Bilt housing, I can assure you that Steel-gilt does not intend to worsen a poor villager's economic situation by putting him into irrevocable debt. That would be in neither his best interest nor ours. I am enclosing an article from the University in your home state which documents the fact that people who take on the responsibility of regular payments for a life need that they themselves have determined are able to pay back their debt ninety-five percent of the time.

Yours Sincerely
Andrew Chapman
President, Steel-gilt International

Questions for Discussion

What other players have entered the game of determining Victor's needs? What are their interests and/or points of view? Who do you think ultimately determined Victor's needs?

Needs Assessment Techniques

Problem Tree (from NFE Manual, pp. 65-67)

PROBLEM TREE suppose you are working with a group of mothers who are agreed that a mayor health problem for their children Is malnutrition. Start by writing the problem at the top of the blackboard or sheet of gaper: "Children Are Malnourished."." (If members of the group are not literate, you can decide on a symbol together that stands for malnutrition - a stick figure with a sad face, for example). Tell the group that a problem is like a tree and that the causes of the problem are like roots reaching Into the ground.

Next, ask the group why they think that children don't have enough to eat. After some discussion, the women may decide that there Is simply not enough food In the village, or that the right kinds of food are not available, or that mothers don't give their children breast milk long enough. Write these responses (or use appropriate symbol) an roots branching off the original problem "tree."

Now, take each of the causes In turn and ask the group why they think It is happening. The group may decide that there Is not enough food In the village because people don't have enough money to buy It, or because the soil In the fields Is poor. Write these responses as other roots branching off the first reasons as In the diagram. Be sure to give participants sufficient time to discuss these problem-, using your diagram only to remind them of what they have discovered rather than as an end In itself.

Assessment Techniques - Problem

Finally, when the group has discovered the complexity of the problem (and, not incidentally,, how much they already know about It), ask them to suggest possible solutions and write them -symbolicalIy or In words, at the bottom of the problem tree. Be sure to stress that these solutions are only possibilities for action, not necessarily final decisions; this "III encourage more creativity and less disagreement about what Is feasible.

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Needs Assessment Techniques - continued
Balloon Exercise (from NFE Manual)

THE BALLOON EXERCISE

This exercise also starts with the group Identifying a problem, this time It should be written In the left hand corner of the paper or board. Then, Instead of asking the causes of the problem, participants should reflect on one or more consequences resulting from It. For each of the consequences they should draw a balloon and link It to the first. They continue looking for consequences of each of the consequences they have written, and link these with a chain of balloons. Finally, they should reflect on where the chain of negative consequences can be broken, and Indicate these as In the diagram on the next page.

This exercise can be done by the large group together with the facilitator writing down what participants say, or It can be done In small groups of three or four participants, with each group coming up with their own analysis of the problem and their own proposed solutions. After they have spent some time on this exercise, the small groups can reconvene and share their balloon chains with each other.

Now that many solutions to the problem have been proposed by the group, the facilitator can list all so the group can decide on the feasibility of each one and propose a course Of action.

For non-literate groups, you might use balloons cut out of paper beforehand and masking tape to stick them on the wall as the consequences of the problem are discovered by the group. Ask participants to draw a symbol that stands for each consequence on the balloons as they are mounted on the wall. A group artist will likely emerge, amid much laughter. As the diagram on the wall gets more complex, be sure the participants remember the symbols they have chosen so that they can "read" the diagram after It Is finished and find appropriate places to break the chain of negative effects.

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Needs Assessment Techniques - continued

Before and After Pictures (from NFE manual, pp. 80-81)

Before and After Pictures

The facilitator Invites group members to draw a picture of whatever situation they find themselves In at present, and a picture of the situation as they would like to see It In the future. After the pictures are drawn, group members should 11st the steps that they think are necessary to get to the desired future state.

If the group Is larger than three or four participants, the activity can be done In small groups. After each small group presents their drawing to the large group and explains It, the large group can decide which future scenario Is most realistic and attractive to the group as a whole. Then together they can decide on the steps necessary to reach their goal.

This process requires much discussion, clarification and reality testing by group members as they go along. It Is a simple but powerful tool that can be used both In helping groups clarify their goals and by the Volunteer In meeting personal goals. Try It out on yourself when you're feelings confused or stymled by your work In the field.

Women's Involvement Wheel: Needs Assessment from the Solomon Islands

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