The Initial Rapid Assessment (IRA) Tool was developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Health, Nutrition and WASH Clusters in 2006-2007.  The IRA aims to enable faster and better multi-sector rapid assessment in the earliest hours of a sudden-onset crisis, to guide the initial planning of urgent humanitarian interventions, to identify needs for follow up assessments, and to inform initial funding decisions.  The IRA is designed to be used in the field by team members with relevant general knowledge and experience but without specialized technical expertise in particular sectors (e.g. in health or water programmes), to enable essential data to be collected and reported for each site visited within 24-48 hours.  The methods used – multiple qualitative techniques for primary data collection backed up by secondary data review – provide for both speed and the necessary level of data quality for initial decision-making.  

The IRA includes two documents:  the IRA Form and the IRA Guidance Note.  The Secondary Data Checklist is recommended to be completed prior to the IRA Form (at the capital level, ideally as part of emergency preparedness).  The IRA Form should be used to summarize the situation and priority needs for initial response at each site visited. Assessment team members may also use the form as a checklist for data collection and as a worksheet for taking notes during interviews and visits. The Guidance Note provides instructions and suggestions on how to prepare for and implement an IRA.

Initial Rapid Assessment (IRA) tool box  

Report based on findings using the IRA form
Findings on the assessment of health issues in 9 severely Cyclone Sidr affected districts

Lessons learned from implementation during post-election violence in Kenya

 Global Health Cluster suggested set of core indicators and benchmarks by category

Health Cluster Definition of Capacity Building 

Gap Guidance Materials: Assisting the Health Sector Coordination Mechanism to Identify and Fill Gaps in the Humanitarian response