CAP Guidelines, 2012

Experience has shown that coordinated needs assessments brings significant benefits and helps save more lives and restore more livelihoods. Along with emergency preparedness, the timeliness and quality of assessments help determine an effective, needs-based humanitarian response. The credibility and accuracy of assessment results are the basis for needs-based planning and can have long-lasting effects on everything from the quality of inter-agency coordination to donor funding levels and relationships with national governments, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and disaster-affected people.The guidelines consist of four parts:1) The first part provides a background on the purpose, audience and scope of the document2) The second part defines coordinated assessments and describes key actions to be taken, roles and responsibilities, and common principles to be considered when undertaking coordinated assessments 3) The third part provides recommendations on the types of coordinated assessments that can be carried out during the different phases following an emergency, and proposes standard operating procedures for doing so 4) The fourth part outlines key preparedness measures to prepare for coordinated assessments