Nutrition Baseline Survey - Main Users / Purpose

It is intended that the data collected during the Nutrition Baseline Survey be used for:

• Appraisal purposes - the causal relationship for a nutritional problem can be analysed by simple methods and tests,
• Planning purposes - the identified causal factor for malnutrition helps to determine adequate and problem-oriented activities, indicators and interventions, and
• Monitoring and evaluation purposes - objective data helps to compare the situation at the beginning of an intervention with the situation at later times

Furthermore, a Nutrition Baseline Survey enables the comparison of data and project results from different surveys (i.e. other institutions), projects and countries.

Despite its mainly statistical character, the Nutrition Baseline Survey is not only pure research. One principle of the Survey accepted in the context of development projects is that there is NO SURVEY WITHOUT SERVICE. This refers to the responsibility of a project to intervene even if unexpected problems have been identified within the survey region.

Note: Nutrition is a complex subject and needs the combination of different quantitative and qualitative methodologies. It is crucial to obtain nutritional, socio-economic and cultural information available in the local setting, and to analyse secondary literature and observational issues, during the preparation phase of the survey, in order to interpret the situation in a holistic manner. An understanding of the perceptions and needs of the population is necessary as well.