Educators have to anticipate and understand the needs of those for whom they are designing programmes. There are a number of different ways of assessing needs, and those planning an education programme will want to consider these on the basis of:

* available time;


* complexity of the programme and its geographic spread;


* whether the programme is being implemented for the first time or whether there
is some institutional knowledge with respect to reaching the target constituency; and


* available finances.


Mainly, educators will want to secure professional assistance. This section provides the overview that they might need to determine what professional assistance will be required and how to manage that assistance. "Surveys":/en/ve/ved/ved04/ve04a describes the most complex and most likely activities that an education team will commission out. But it is possible to use "Existing Data":/en/ve/ved/ved04/ved04b and to make use of the education team itself to obtain information through "Interlocutors and Intermediaries":/en/ve/ved/ved04/ved04c.