What is SMART?
SMART (Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions) is an inter-agency initiative, which was launched in 2002 by a network of organizations and humanitarian practitioners including donors, policymakers, leading experts in emergency epidemiology and nutrition, food security, early warning systems, and demography. Its goal is to assist decision-makers to carry out, analyze, interpret, and report on survey findings in a standardized manner while maintaining the reliability of nutrition/health data. Furthermore, it provides a mean for decision-makers to better prioritize program activities and interventions in the most vulnerable groups.
In brief, the SMART methodology is an improved survey method based on the two most vital, basic public health indicators for the assessment of severity in humanitarian crisis — namely the nutritional status of children under-five and mortality rate of the population. These indicators are useful for prioritizing resources as well as for monitoring the extent to which the relief system is meeting the needs of the population, and thus the overall impact of the relief response.
In order to standardize and simplify the collection of high quality data, a survey manual was collaboratively developed to be used as a tool in conjunction with an accompanying analytical software called ENA (Emergency Nutrition Assessment). The manual was designed for use by field staff with limited epidemiological and statistical knowledge. To reiterate, SMART’s main goal is to make the survey process as easy as possible for the field staff and as reliable as possible for the decision-makers. It is recognized as being a critical step in improving worldwide emergency assessment.
In order to standardize and simplify the collection of high quality data, a survey manual was collaboratively developed to be used as a tool in conjunction with an accompanying analytical software called ENA (Emergency Nutrition Assessment). The manual was designed for use by field staff with limited epidemiological and statistical knowledge. To reiterate, SMART’s main goal is to make the survey process as easy as possible for the field staff and as reliable as possible for the decision-makers. It is recognized as being a critical step in improving worldwide emergency assessment.
