Write the Need and Problem Statement

Turn assessment findings into a short, evidenced statement of the gap between current and desired conditions, with its causes, local data against wider figures, and what to leave out.

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What You Will End Up With

A short statement of need that a reviewer can read on its own. It describes the gap between current conditions and the conditions you want, backs the gap with narrative, statistics and a chart or graph, explains what causes it, and speaks to the funder's priorities. It stops there. The statement recognizes the gap and does not describe the project you will run; that comes in the sections that follow.

Written well, it also becomes the page everyone returns to during the project to check that the work is still on track.

Before You Start

Pull together the evidence first, because you cannot write a persuasive statement from assumptions.

  • Baseline data: current statistics on the problem. You need them to support any outcome objective, and they should be cited in this section.
  • Local figures you can set beside state and national ones.
  • A short list of community strengths and assets, as well as the deficits that threaten a more secure future.

Then decide where the data will come from. Existing reports, such as demographic data, economic reports and health statistics, give you insight without any contact with the community. Their limits are real, though: they may not cover emerging issues, they say little about causes, and their sample may not represent everyone. If there is no usable local data, plan to collect your own through telephone interviews, focus groups or self-administered surveys.

Steps

  1. Name the gap. A problem statement names the issue or condition to be improved and states the gap between where things are now and where you want them to be. Say who is affected, keep the focus on the end user, and set the scope so it is neither too broad nor too narrow. A small education NGO in a rural district might describe the gap between the children who should be in school and the children who actually attend, saying where the first number comes from. Leave the solution and the methods out. Naming the fix at this stage invites a reviewer to ask whether you have understood the problem at all.

    One simple way to organize it is four elements: Ideal (the desired state), Reality (the current state), Consequences (what happens if nothing changes) and Proposal (possible solutions). In a grant proposal, write the first three in full and keep the fourth to a sentence that leads into the project description.

  2. Explain the causes. Describe what creates the need before you move toward any plan. Fixing a problem without analyzing its causes can lead to bigger problems and wasted resources. Where you can, draw on a literature review to say what has been tried so far and why it fell short.

  3. Say what kind of evidence the need rests on. Different evidence shows different things.

    • What people say they need comes from their own view, and the standard changes with each person you ask.
    • The number of people who have sought help shows where a need has turned into action. Its weakness is the assumption that everyone with a need asks for help.
    • A comparison between groups is about equity. It has to take account of differences between populations and in the level of social problems each faces.

    Use more than one kind when you can, so one weak spot does not carry the whole argument.

  4. Show the evidence in relative terms. Combine narrative with statistics, and reinforce both with a graph or chart. Place local data beside state and national data. A local rate that sits well above the national figure persuades far more than the local number alone. If local data does not exist, run interviews, focus groups or a short survey and report what you found.

  5. Tie it to the funder's priorities. The statement should speak directly to what the funder cares about. Use the funder's own terms where they fit, and do not stretch the problem to fit them.

  6. Check it with the people it describes. Before the project begins, check that the problem and goals are described accurately. A quick read-through with community members and partners catches errors and builds support.

  7. Make it stand alone. A reader should be able to act on the statement without extra context or a spoken explanation. If the statement leans on other pages to make sense, bring in the missing facts.

Using AI Safely

An assistant can help you organize notes and shape the flow of the argument. It cannot do the assessment for you.

  • Do not paste confidential community data, raw survey answers or anything that identifies a person.
  • Ask it to structure the narrative around the gap between current and desired conditions and to draw out causes from the notes you supply.
  • Read the output for solutions and methods. If it has described the project, cut that out; the statement should recognize the gap only.
  • Check every statistic, date and claim against your source documents. Assistants produce plausible figures that are wrong. If it adds a trend or number you cannot find in your sources, delete it.

Common Mistakes

Defining the solution. Describing the programs you plan to run inside the problem statement blurs the point. The section recognizes the gap and nothing more.

Skipping the causes. Describing symptoms without asking why they exist leads to wasted resources, and sometimes to bigger problems.

Relying only on requests for help. Counting only those who sought help assumes that everyone with a need does so. Bring in what people say and how groups compare.

Setting the scope wrong. Too broad and the problem looks unsolvable; too narrow and it looks small. Keep the focus on the end user.

Trusting secondary data blindly. Existing data may lack context for causes and may come from a sample that does not reflect the whole population. Check that it describes the community you serve.