Need assessment in research development and health promotion center of Farrokhshahr in 2004

The main aim of participatory research is to strengthen local capacities so that people can utilize and analyze data to solve their problems. Research development and health promotion center of Farokhshahr was established for capacity building of society so that people be able to recognize their problems and finally try to solve them. In this center, participatory research is a basic element, which consisted of community mobilization, need assessment, priority setting, interventions and evaluation. In this study need assessment was investigated in this city. This research was a participatory research. Population of the study was all 40000 population of Farrokhshahr city. Sample consisted of 40 groups with 6-12 people in each group. These 400 people of sample size were randomly selected from the population. Rapid appraisal method was used for process of need assessment. This method is based on observation, interview and society profile. Promotion of people education and capacity building is one of the advantages of this method. Finally, the data were collected from the society profile, focus group discussion and observation. The data collected from focus group discussion, society problem and observation resulted in recognition of 40 needs and problems. These needs were classified in nine groups. The results indicated that need assessment using participatory community based research not only identified society needs and problems but also caused capacity building in the society.