MODULE8
COMMUNITY NEEDS
ASSESSMENT
Concept of Community Needs
Assessment
Needs assessment, social analysis or
community diagnosis as others refer to, is a
concrete base for the formulation of
programs. It reflects the sentiments, needs,
aspirations and recommendations of the
community people. When it is done properly,
it will reflect also the trainees’ feeling of
oneness with the community. They begin to
see that the people’s problems also reflect
their own.
Needs assessment becomes significant
when it is conducted through integration
with the people. Our analysis and
assessment should be done with the people.
Hence, it does be genuinely pro-people.
Analysis of social situation becomes
meaningful if it is used as an instrument for
conscientization.
Those immersing in the community must not
just make the people realize their issues
but also make them to act on it. Their
realization of the problems should help
make the community realize the relation
between their local condition and situation
of other communities around them. It is
important that the people realize that they
can do something to change their situation
for the better.
Assessing the needs of the community
is a prelude to effective program offered
to clients. This will ensure solutions to
problems, issues and concerns of the
people in the locality.
Community Needs Assessment Defined
It is the process wherein problems, issues
and concerns of the community are
identified through the use of several tools
for assessment.
It encourages the participation of the
community, as they are the stakeholders,
to the findings in the assessment.
Importance of Needs
Assessment
1. Gather information about citizens’ attitudes and options
in order of importance.
2. Determine how citizens rank issues, problems and
opportunities in order of importance or urgency.
3. Give citizens a voice in determining policies, goals and
priorities.
4. Evaluate current programs and policies.
5. Provide speculations about what people are thinking.
6. Provide speculations about what people really want.
Information to be included in
Assessing Community Needs
1. Historical Development
Refers to data on how the community
became what it is today and provides
insights into the kind of resources to
collect and weed.
2. Geographical and Transportation Information
It includes information on the community’s
patterns and population contributions.
3. Political and Legal Functions
It includes strategies for community-based
selection [or this may include strategies that
community uses for selecting players in the
political sphere].
4. Demographic Data
It includes data on age characteristics, size,
race, and transience of population.
5. Economic Data
It refers to the economic base, social,
cultural, educational, recreational
organizations. This includes the values and
social pattern.
Methods in Collecting Data for Community
Needs Assessment
1. Focused Group Discussion (FGD) with Key
informants
The key informants of the community are
people who hold socially responsible positions
such as educators, public officials, clergy and
business representatives or those
These are people who can provide good
information that will guide and give you better
understanding on historical issues needed by
the community.
2. Community Forum/Assembly
This involves holding of group events that
may include the entire community. It gives
visibility to the leaders and raises the status
of the community but it requires lots of
planning and publicity.
This meeting can be a venue where people
can express their needs and be
immediately validated by the rest of the
attendees. Participatory action research
effectively uses this method.
3. Public Records
Public records like national census will
provide data for social and demographic
indicators of the community. Data include
are age, gender, educational level, locality,
etc. that tend to contribute to library use.
4. Survey
Survey and questionnaires involve asking
individuals in the community about their
everyday needs. This can be implemented
through the following:
a. Mailing questionnaires to randomly selected
members of the community;
b. Performing telephone survey;
c. Handing out surveys while people are in an
assembly; and
d. Posting questionnaires on your public access
computer catalog
“An example of this is the Minimum Basic
Needs (MBN) Form of the DSWD”.
Steps in Conducting Needs
Assessment
1. Establish a working committee to solicit
citizen and community involvement and
develop a plan of action.
2. List important aspects that are needed to be
looked upon.
This may also mean identifying the
surveyors’ own capability and strength.
3. Identify the population to be surveyed.
This also includes making communications
with community leaders and authorities of
the identified population to facilitate other
procedures.
4. Determine the information that is needed.
It may be existing information which must
be collected or it may be information
gathered using a survey. Information like
demographic profile may be readily gathered
from the barangay, municipal or city records
office.
5. Select a random sample of person to survey.
A good number of representative
populations to be surveyed will
contribute to the validity of the
information.
6. Develop and pretest a questionnaire.
Afterwards, if the questionnaire was
found to be a valid tool for measurement
of data, proceed to distributing the
questionnaire for community use.
7. Collate the information.
8. Analyze the data.
This may be done together with the core
group members of the community.
Community participation in analyzing
gathered data is also important so that they
can feel the ownership of the issues and
concerns in their community.
9. Go back to the community for validation of
information.
This may be done through a community
assembly or simple community group
discussion.
10. Finalize the document.
Make sure that there are corresponding
recommendations for the issues and
concerns found.
Community Assistance in
Assessing Needs
1. Help identify community groups and
citizens to be involved in the working
committee.
2. Facilitate a group discussion to identify
important issues and set priorities.
3. Help select the sample to be surveyed and
design a system to identify respondents.
4. Provide tested questions from which the
working committees choose questions that
address the issues and concerns.
5. Help design a process to distribute and
collect survey questionnaires, code,
enter and analyze the resulting data.
6. Provide summary reports of data.
7. Suggest programs to report the results
and strategies to solicit community
involvement.
8. Work with citizens to identify courses
of action based on the information.
Sample of Community Needs Assessment
Framework/Design for
Urban and Rural Setting
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Statement
B. Objectives
C. Importance
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Time and Place
B. Sampling Procedure
C. Method of Analysis
D. Scope and Limitations
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Geographical Profile
(Data source may come from barangay or
city/municipal hall)
1. Physical
a. Location/Boundaries (North, East, West, South)
b. Terrain
c. Facilities (like clinic/hospital, schools, recreation hall, etc.
d. Climate
e. Basic Food
2. Cultural
a. History of Place and People
b. Languages being used
c. Peace and Order Situation
d. (usual community conflict and/or crime rate)
e. Clothing (most applicable to rural setting)
B. Social (Data comes from survey)
1. Total Population
2. Total Number of Household
3. Population distribution by Gender (and Age)
4. Population distribution by Educational Attainment
5. Health and common illnesses
6. Recreation
C. Economic
1. Wage Earners in the Family
2. Employment
3. Household monthly income
D. Life Skills
1. Abilities
2. Interests
E. Spiritual Aspect
1. Number of people with active membership in the church
F. Socio-political Aspect
1. Known social programs or projects and other
related community efforts (whether existing or
planned efforts)
2. Expression of satisfaction/dissatisfaction towards
current social programs
3. Perceived community leaders
4. Recognized community leaders
5. Other Agencies, GOs or NGOs that are in the area
or that serve the community
IV. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION
A. Summary
B. Conclusion
C. Recommendation
V. APPENDICES
Integrating Activity:
Make a community needs assessment in
the barangay where you live. The needs
assessment questionnaires have different parts
where you need to collect data on barangay
officials and residents of the barangay by
interviewing them.
Barangay Data
I. Geographical Profile
Address of Barangay:
A. Location/Boundary (Pls. check)
( ) Within City/Poblacion
( ) Coastal
( ) Inland
( ) Upland
B. Topography (pls. check)
( ) Plain
( ) Rolling Terrain
( ) Hilly
C. Number of Puroks or Sitios:
D. Land Areas ([Link].):
II. Demography
A. Total population:
Female:
Male:
B. Number of infants (0-11 mos.):
Female:
Male:
C. Number of toddlers (1 – 2 years old):
Female:
Male:
D. Number of Pre-schoolers:
(3 -5 years old)
Female:
Male:
E. Number of 5 -14 years old
Female:
Male:
F. Number of Families:
G. Family Size
No. of family members No. of families corresponding
with size
More than 7
5–7
2–4
Less than 4
III. Agricultural Profile
A. Physical Structures (pls. Check)
I. Rice Mill Existing in the Barangay
a. Cono ( )
b. Kiskisan ( )
2. Irrigation System Existing in the Barangay
a. National (Constructed by NIA):
b. Communal (Constructed by farmers Ass.):
c. Pumps:
d. Mountain Spring
3. Existing Grain Warehouse
a. Government operated ( )
b. Privately operated ( )
4. Existing Cold Storage
a. Government operated ( )
b. Privately operated ( )
B. Major Food Crops Grown
1. Most Common Agri/Fish Products (pls. check)
a. rice ( )
b. corn ( )
c. roots crops ( )
d. vegetables ( )
e. fish ( )
f. crabs, shrimps, etc. ( )
g. seaweeds ( )
h. others (specify) ( )
2. Most Common Livestock/Poultry (pls. check)
a. swine ( )
b. goat ( )
c. chicken ( )
d. ducks ( )
e. Others (specify) ( )
3. Other products
a. rattan ( )
b. bamboos ( )
c. charcoal/firewood ( )
d. others specify) ( )
4. Main Source of Income of the Barangay
(Percentage %)
a. Share from State Tax
b. Share from Development Fund
c. Business and other Taxes
d. Others (specify)
Household Data (Interview)
Name (optional):
Address:
A. Source of Income of the Household’s Main Earners (Pls. Check)
Level of Income (approximate)
( ) Employment in government or
private sector
( ) Farming
( ) Fishing
( ) Self-employment/entrepreneurship
( ) Overseas Contract Workers
B. Other source of income of the family
Father
Mother
Brother
Sister
C. Most Common Typed/Kind of Dwelling units (Pls. check)
( ) concrete ( ) semi-concrete
( ) nipa/bamboo ( ) Wood
( ) Barong-barong ( ) Others (pls. specify)
D. Most common source of drinking water (pls. check)
( ) open dug wells ( ) spring
( ) Artesian wells ( ) deep wells
( ) water works system
E. Most common type of toilet facilities (pls. check)
( ) water sealed ( ) antipolo
( ) open pit ( ) none
F. Electricity and telephone services
% of total household
Electricity
Telephone
Cellphone
G. Presence of School in the barangay (pls. check)
Government Private
Day care ( ) ( )
Pre-school ( ) ( )
Elementary ( ) ( )
High School ( ) ( )
Vocational ( ) ( )
College ( ) ( )
H. Health Facilities in the Barangay (pls. check)
1. Government
( ) Barangay Health Station
( ) Health/Nutrition Center
( ) Community Hospital Clinic
2. Private
( ) Dental Clinic
( ) Medical Clinic
( ) Hospitals
I. Infrastructure (Pls. Check)
Distance from the Barangay
Along Near Far None
National road/highway ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Provincial road ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Municipal road ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Feeder road ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Seaport/pier ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
Airport ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
J. Most common transport facilities(pls. rank)
( ) Bus ( ) Jeep
( ) Tricycle ( ) Boat
( ) Others (specify)
K. Presence of Cooperatives, NGOs, Pos, etc.
Number operating in the Barangay
Cooperatives
Non-Government Organizations
People’s Organizations
L. Number of Households with at least one member belonging to
an Organization
Number of Households
Cooperatives
Non-Government Organizations
People’s Organizations
M. Predominant Religion ( pls. check)
( ) Roman Catholic ( ) Aglipay
( ) Born Again ( ) UCCP
( ) INC ( ) Islam
( ) Jehova’s Witness ( ) Church of Latter Day Saints
( ) Others (pls. Specify)
N. Problems/issues encountered on living in barangay
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
