Occurs before the program begins to identify demand or gaps
Used to establish baselines (starting point), goals & objectives and resources needed
Evaluation in Action: A Needs Assessment
Last year, a Wikimedia chapter organized a Wiki Loves Monuments program in their country and participants photographed every single monument in the country's capitol city. For this year's Wiki Loves Monuments program, they wanted to move the focus away from monuments in the capitol city, but were not sure what would be appropriate.
They decided to complete a needs assessment to see what other subject areas needed images. The results from the assessment indicated that Wikipedia and Commons lacked the most images related to monuments in rural areas and small towns, so they chose to focus this year's Wiki Loves Monuments on a list of identified small and rural towns.
