Estimate WASH People in Need (PIN) figures
Not all people affected by the crisis are in need for assistance. The part of the affected population in need for WASH support is called WASH People in Need (PIN). Refer to the “Humanitarian Profile Support Guidance” in key tools and guideline for more information on PIN figures.
Once all available data has been compiled, the WASH coordination platform analyzes it to estimate the number of People in Need (PIN) of WASH assistance. OCHA often asks sector coordinators to differentiate their PIN between acute need and moderate needs. Coordination platforms have multiple options to calculate PIN, and OCHA must provide them with viable methodology based on context.
As a start, OCHA defines the multisector datasets and the standard geographic resolution (ie the admin level at which PIN should be calculated) that should be used. From there, two approaches are possible:
- WASH PIN can be directly estimated from WASH indicators. For instance:
- Identify key WASH indicators (ex: access to water)
- Identify thresholds for PIN (for example with less than 15 l/p/d People are “in need”)
- Calculate PIN in a given administrative area based on percentage of households that are above the agreed thresholds
- A more intersectoral approach can also be used, considering that there are only few emergencies (mostly outbreaks) were WASH is a key sector, as compared to health or food security. It can then be relevant to use PIN from Health or Food Security sectors as a starting point, and identify which of the people in need for health or food security are also in need for WASH, and finally use WASH indicators and threshold as above.
OCHA uses PIN figures of each sector to determine the overall PIN for response. This process will be much easier and accurate if cluster/sector have already factored-in intersectoral aspects in their calculation.