Needs analysis attempts to collect as much information as possible in order to build a comprehensive understanding of the needs and issues you are facing. Once those needs are understood, it is a lot easier to identify potential solutions.

When commercial companies enter the Analysis phase, they often use “market research” or a “needs analysis” to get a clear picture of their current position in the marketplace. A “market research” may not be exactly the tool we need, but a “needs analysis” can be very relevant. A needs analysis can help you determine your current position (O'Connell). This, in turn, makes it easier to decide where you need to go.

In essence, a needs analysis is:

• A review of your past successes and challenges in terms of inclusion
• An inventory of what has been developed and what areas still need to be explored
• A health check of your internal procedures
• A framework for understanding the “bigger picture” of inclusion in your country

A “needs analysis” is sometimes referred to as a “situational analysis” a“problem assessment” or an “organisational diagnosis”. We use the term“needs analysis” to stress that the process should look at the internal as well as external inclusion situation.

A needs analysis involves:

• Collecting background information
• Understanding the real needs of the young people
• Identifying potential partners and potential obstacles in the inclusion field
• Making an inventory of the skills, competencies and resources available to you

As you go through this process you are actually analysing what is happening in the inclusion field inside and outside your organisation. A needs analysis shows clearly where you are starting from and establishes the baseline against which the results of your inclusion strategy will later be measured and evaluated. Your needs analysis will help you to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of inclusion in the NA and also indicate opportunities for the future. This information can then help you to make the difficult choices which will come up in the Planning phase.

The needs analysis is the most work-intensive and time-consuming aspect of developing a strategy but don't let this turn you off - the information you gather in this phase will be worth gold later on. By doing a needs analysis you are making an important investment in your inclusion strategy and in your NGO as a whole. A needs analysis is not an evaluation. This phase is first and foremost about seeing the facts. The interpretation of those facts happens later in the Planning phase.

There is no one standardised method for carrying out a needs analysis. The process is a lot like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle. Each puzzle piece is unique and shows a different angle of your organisation and the environment around you, yet each piece is essential to providing a complete picture.

The individual puzzle pieces which make up your needs analysis can be obtained by using a variety of techniques. It is important for NGOs to use different methods because you are searching for different types of feedback from different sources. In a needs analysis, one size definitely does not fit all!

Some possible methods include:

• Questionnaires - an inexpensive way to gather data from a potentially large number of respondents (they also allow for a statistical analysis of the results)
• Surveys - good tools for measuring levels of satisfaction, either internally or among your clients.
• Statistics - a treasure trove of information. How many participants? How many projects? How many new clients? How many staff hours? Etc.
• Interviews - allow you to gather more in-depth information from a specific group of candidates
• Small group discussions - a semi-formal way to explore issues within a mixed group (mixed functions, mixed profiles, etc.)
• Focus groups - a small group of candidates selected to represent a much larger group, usually sharing some specific characteristics of a defined profile.
• Task and/or systems analysis - a way to examine systems and activities which are carried out consistently and repeatedly (e.g. the process involved in selecting project applications)

These are just some examples. Each of these methods has its own strengths and weaknesses. Not every method is suited to every situation so it is useful to combine different techniques whenever possible. Mixing methods ensures that the resulting feedback is as comprehensive and meaningful as possible. It will also reduce the possibility of missing key issues.

The first step to implement a project that produces a positive impact is to determine the needs that must be tackled. Projects aim to solve problems of the beneficiary people or organizations, in favour of which the programming choices have planned to allocate resources in the form of programs or projects. The designed plan must start from a detailed description of the main problem that the project intends to address and, subsequently, the call for tenders in which it intends to participate. Only by identifying a real need is possible to write a project that has a positive impact on society. An essential method to achieve this objective is represented by the model of threes; at first, we design the tree of problems, in which the cause-effect connection of a certain problem is shown. Subsequently, we define the tree of objectives, namely how we want to solve the previous problems. The projects Marmaduke is involved, which concern musical and cultural activities, give a solid contribution in this sense. As an example, we may consider the Swinging Europe project. Starting from a real necessity, the lack of a frame of swing musicians around Europe, the project intends to build a network between all European schools and associations, with the purpose to spread the swing culture.