The role of needs assessment in the tsunami response: Desk review on needs assessments in Food Security/Food aid

 This report follows the Terms of Reference, included in Annex 1, of the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC) on Needs Assessment, which aims to evaluate the “adequacy, appropriateness and effectiveness of assessments in the decision making process to guide the responses to assist people affected by the tsunami”.
The report is based on the desk review of the quality and methodologies of published assessment reports relating to food security/food aid/livelihoods undertaken by the author between 5th September and 31 October 2005, that is a total of 27 days (terms of reference included in Annex 1). This desk study should be read in conjunction with the final reports prepared by the field team members who conducted interviews in both Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
The objectives of the desk review were:
• To review approaches/guidelines assessing food security/livelihoods in emergencies,
• To prepare an inventory of published tsunami-related food security/food aid assessments,
• To analyze the quality and methodologies of the most relevant food security assessments
according to standard guidelines.