Section 3 Assess
What is a needs assessment?
- Needs Assessment
- A systematic process for determining and addressing needs, or gaps between current conditions (where we are now) and desired conditions or ‘wants’ (where we want to be).
A needs assessment is a starting point for generating new ideas. It is best to do a needs assessment at the start of a project.
A playground needs assessment will give you insight into what your playground offers at the moment, the views of the children that use the playground, and the views of other community members with experience of children and play.
There are many reasons for doing a needs assessment. A few of them are:
- to collect information about the need (playground)
- to ensure we do not build a playground or parts of a playground that is not needed or wanted by the community
- to help you focus on the needs of the children and not on what we, the adults, want to do
- to uncover things that you might have missed
- to test assumptions and reduce the risk of doing more harm than good.
The questions to ask when doing a needs assessment
Figure 15 The questions to ask when doing a needs assessment
The playground needs assessment tool is the perfect starting point to get community members involved. If people are consulted about the problem, they are more likely to contribute to and participate in the solutions.
How to do a needs assessment
- Natural Playground
- An area where kids can play with natural elements such as sand, water, wood, and living plants.
To solve a problem, we first need to understand what the solution is. A playground needs assessment gathers information about the ‘road’ we need to take to create the natural playground we want for our children.
In short, it is finding out what needs to be done in order to move from where we are to where we want to be. Watch the video to find out how to conduct a needs assessment for your natural playground.
You can use Tool 2, Tool 3, Tool 4, Tool 5, and Tool 7 to help you conduct a needs assessment for your playground.
