The Concept Note on Conducting Participatory Needs Assessments (PNA) was developed under the Integrated Rural Development Project, jointly implemented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan and UNDP with financial support from the Islamic Development Bank. It provides a practical approach for identifying, analysing and prioritising local community needs so that rural infrastructure decisions can better respond to people’s actual priorities.

The Concept Note draws on a review of national documents, international good practices and consultations conducted in Tashkent and in Samarkand, Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions. It recommends evolving participatory needs assessment from primarily a consultation exercise into a more structured decision-support mechanism that links community priorities with technical feasibility, available resources and development objectives.