UNHCR’s Needs Assessment Handbook and its accompanying online Needs Assessment Toolkit provide guidance on how to accomplish the objectives set out under the Grand Bargain commitments on improving needs assessments. It is the culmination of years of research and broad consultations by the agency. It consolidates practices, standards, and guidance from across the organisation, operationalising the IASC Operational Guidance on Coordinated Assessments in Humanitarian Crises.
JIPS contributed building on its expertise and field-acquired experience working in diverse displacement contexts and various profiling exercises. The handbook recommends profiling as being complementary to needs assessments: “(In many cases, they can be conducted simultaneously or in tandem to optimise resources or when access to the affected population is likely to be difficult or expensive.”