Design an Assessment Strategy
How will you do it?
An assessment strategy will help you determine the multiple components needed to gather the required information, including: the key decisions that you wish to inform (strategic planning, preparedness, advocacy, etc.), the sources of data that should be used, the timeline for different assessment activities, and the overall guiding principles.
Your strategy should also aim to enhance your preparedness, covering not only planned decision-making processes (e.g. HNO, HRP, mid-year reviews, etc.) but also major unexpected events (e.g. a sudden onset disaster or rapid deterioration).
You will find a more detailed assessment strategy template in the Guidance and Tools folder. The key steps to set up a strategy are:
Set the objectives and scope
Explain briefly the main purpose of the strategy (informing evidence-based decision making, coordinating assessment activities, strengthening assessment preparedness, etc.). Outline the strategic and programmatic decisions you want to inform as well as the key milestones and timelines.
Define your information needs
Define the research questions (how many people are in need of WASH assistance, what are the priority areas, what are the key WASH interventions that need to be implemented, etc.). This will be the starting point of your core indicators and analysis framework – see the chapter on Primary Data for more details. Also, explain what administrative level you need information at, and the geographic areas that you need to cover. Finally, detail the stratification you need to plan the response (i.e. the breakdown by population groups, displacement status, gender, etc.)
Describe the assessment landscape
Describe the assessment landscape, i.e. who collects what, when and how and what are that core indicators embedded in these data collection initiatives. Explain how the different ongoing/planned assessment initiatives, whether led by the coordination platform or other agencies, will contribute to meet your information needs. Do also outline key gaps, limitations, and challenges, and how you will address them. Finally, outline the assessment coordination architecture, such as fora and meetings, including relevant assessment/IM working groups, that the coordination platform should attend/set up.
Plan for the resources you need
Estimate your resources needs (funding and human resource) for assessment coordination, data collection and analysis. Evaluate what is currently available and explain how you will address the gaps (through fundraising, recruitment, capacity building, etc.).
Define WASH Core Indicators
How will you do it?
The coordination platform needs to set up a system to get harmonized data from WASH partners and other actors (such as other clusters, DTM, REACH, etc.) collecting data on WASH needs on a regular basis. The cornerstone of such a system are the core indicators, i.e. a list of WASH indicators and questions that WASH partners and other actors will integrate into their respective data collection tools. Without core indicators, actors will collect data that cannot be compared is difficult to consolidate and or of mixed quality, resulting in limited coverage, duplication of efforts and a waste of resources.
Key features of core indicators
The purpose of the core indicator system is to collect the basic crucial WASH data, covering the largest possible area, at the highest frequency and with the minimum effort. For the system to succeed and be adopted by the different organizations, the core indicators need to be:
• Few: the list of core indicators and questions should be short and concise - preferably up to 5-7 indicators and 10-15 questions, because in multi-sector data collection initiatives there is not space for more. WASH agencies doing their assessments will probably include agency-specific questions, reducing the space for core indicators.
• Flexible: Core indicators and questions should be developed both at site and household (HH) level, so that data collected through assessments implemented at different level is still comparable.
• Consensual: the process of developing the core indicators and questions should be as participatory as possible to develop a sense of ownership among the different organizations that will be keener to adopt them.
Developing core indicators
To develop core indicators and questions, convene a meeting with key WASH operational partners and data collection organizations. Together with the participants, define the research questions (for instance how many people are in need of WASH assistance, what are the priority areas, what are the key WASH interventions that need to be implemented, etc.) that you need to answer in order to plan the response. Based on this, develop core indicators both at household and community/camp levels. The GWC has supported different countries in developing their core indicators, and the table below shows the most commonly used core indicators for needs assessment:
Theme | Indicator at HH-level | Proxy indicator at community-level |
Water | Proportion of households accessing an Improved Water Source | Proportion of communities accessing an Improved Water Source |
Water | Proportion of households accessing an adequate/sufficient quantity of water (or calculation or liters/person/day) | Proportion of communities accessing an adequate/sufficient quantity of water |
Hygiene | Proportion of households having soap | Proportion of communities where members have soap |
Sanitation | Proportion of households accessing functioning latrines | Proportion of communities where members are accessing functioning latrines |
Developing core indicators
Other commonly used indicators at the household level include: Proportion of households for whom fetching water constitutes a problem (and calculation of time, if possible); Proportion of households not accessing handwashing facilities; Proportion of households facing severe environmental hygiene problems (solid waste and wastewater); Proportion of HH washing their hands at minimum 3 of the 5 critical times; Proportion of HH having jerry can, or other NFI; etc.
Once the first draft of your core indicators list is finalized, circulate it among the WASH partners to collect their feedback before proceeding with formal approval at a coordination platform’s meeting. If you have a strategic advisory group (SAG), have them review and approve the final version that should then be circulated to all partners.
Once the indicators are approved, you can proceed in developing the associated questions, both at household and community levels. Find below an example for one core indicator:
Indicator | Questions at household-level | Proxy questions at community-level |
Proportion of households/ communities accessing an improved water source | 1. What is the main source of (drinking) water for members of your household? 2. Are there other sources of water used by your household, whether for drinking or for other purposes, such as cooking and hand washing? Select all secondary sources for the water used. | 1. What are the main sources of (drinking) water in your community? 2. Are there other sources of water used for other purposes, such as cooking and hand washing? Select all secondary sources for the water used. |
In the Tool section, you will find an Indicators and Questions Bank developed by the GWC that you can use as a basis to develop your core indicators.
Mainstreaming core indicators
Core indicators and questions need to be mainstreamed across as many data collection initiatives as possible. For this, map the assessment landscape (who collects what, when and how) including WASH partners and other assessment actors (such as other clusters, DTM, REACH, etc.) that collect WASH data on a regular basis.
Contact them and ensure they embed core WASH indicators and questions in their data collection tools. In addition, agree on a data sharing schedule, so that you can maintain a common dataset with all data collected through core indicators and questions by the different organizations.