The Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) is a part of the IFRC network, which consists of more than 12 million active volunteers spread over 191 countries. The domestic department of the NLRC is divided into 23 districts (excluding the headquarters) with 202 local divisions. There are 15.000+ volunteers and 41.000+ ready2helpers active within the Netherlands context.
The definition of basic need varies a lot in the literature. It includes concepts ranging from access to medical treatments to human worthy living. And yet again, the definitions of some of these concepts are not solid. This raises many questions and requires expertise within multiple (scientific) domains to evaluate these concepts.
While there are established humanitarian frameworks like the Sphere Standards, these frameworks are mainly tailored for disasters, disaster prone countries or for low-income countries. This makes it difficult to apply it within the Netherlands context with low exposure for (natural) disasters.
What can be classified as a basic need within the Netherlands? What kind of data can help in signaling areas with vulnerable people, taking the privacy law into account? How can we prioritize the interventions objectively? How can we prioritize the needs objectively?