Building resilience through Needs Assessments in FAO Emergency operation

To address the impact of humanitarian crises on lives and livelihoods, and improve the efficiency of humanitarian interventions, it is key to understand what is happening at ground level. Needs Assessment is a tool that supports this understanding and allows to carry out a better analysis of the situation, enabling the design of appropriate responses. Needs assessments are a fundamental part of the humanitarian programme cycle providing the foundation and justification for interventions.

FAO promotes the use of Needs Assessments in the agricultural, livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture as well as forestry sectors to help building the resilience of populations in protracted crises and emergency situations. An example is presented about a Needs Assessment recently carried out in Viet Nam.