The UNHCR Tool for Participatory Assessment in Operations

This Tool is the product of collaborative efforts, resulting from consultations and contributions from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff and partners in the field and at headquarters in Geneva. It was piloted in 14 countries and has been applied in 40 UNHCR field operations. The Tool outlines a series of steps to follow for conducting a participatory assessment with refugees or other persons of concern and provides guidance aimed at promoting a more systematic approach to participatory assessment and assisting in systematising the findings for more effective incorporation into planning processes. The overall goal of this Tool is to assist offices in strengthening partnerships with persons of concern, in gathering baseline data for age, gender, and diversity analysis, and in developing the most appropriate protection strategies through: (i) analysing protection risks and incidents together with persons of concern; (ii) involving refugees in the design, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of services throughout the programme cycle; and (iv) being accountable to the populations that UNHCR serves.