Deciding on the Scope of the Assessment
Before planning the details of an assessment, it is important that the assessors define clear goals for the process, including what components of the systems are going to be assessed (e.g., the notifiable disease reporting system, human or animal), and what aspects of those components are going to be assessed (e.g., system environment, resources, characteristics, processes, or performance). The assessment team should then choose appropriate assessment tools and approaches based on the assessment goal(s).
The process of defining the assessment goals should involve meaningful stakeholder engagement using a participatory approach. This ensures that the goals, design, implementation, and results of the assessment are relevant to all stakeholders and promote greater equity in the surveillance system.
Questions to Consider
Key questions in planning an assessment with equity in mind:
Objectives
- What are the goals of the surveillance assessment?
- What questions are you trying to answer?
- What components of the system will you assess?
- Will you assess all attributes, or only a subset? Which attributes do key stakeholders care about? Which are most important to end users?
- Will you assess data governance?
- Will you assess surveillance system resources?
- What scale will the assessment be (national vs. sub-national)?
Logistics
- Who are the key stakeholders? What are barriers to meaningful engagement of these stakeholders?
- Who are the primary decision makers in this assessment?
- What do you know about the current system that is being assessed?
- What approvals will be needed to conduct the assessment?
- What is your timeline?
- What are your resources including budget, personnel, and operational costs?