Asylum Capacity Self-Assessment Tool

© UNHCR/Marin Bogonovschi

Published: 31 March 2025

The Asylum Capacity Self-Assessment Tool supports the planning of interventions to improve the fairness and efficiency of national asylum systems. It  provides a detailed and concrete methodology to conduct a self-assessment of the capacities of asylum authorities to implement a fair, efficient and adaptable asylum process which functions with integrity. Such an assessment provides a holistic view of the underlying issues in a national asylum system to facilitate the development of capacity strengthening interventions to obtain quality and efficiency gains.

Designed for use by State asylum authorities, the tool is composed of a How-to Guide (EN | FR | ES) and a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (EN | FR | ES) as the primary method of analysis. The above version of the questionnaire is a so-called Sandbox version, where respondents can familiarize themselves with the various theme and questions – it does not require a formal log-in.

Together, the components of the Tool assist asylum authorities in identifying the strengths and weaknesses in their asylum system, including in areas such as the legal and policy framework, institutional setup, material assets and infrastructure, planning and resource management, and case processing modalities. The Self-Assessment Questionnaire is linked to an interactive dashboard facilitating the analysis across topics and over time. The Tool offers step-by-step guidance to plan and implement an asylum capacity assessment, analyse the results, and develop a response.

Key additional supporting materials include:

  • A 2-pager (EN | FR) presentation of the Tool;
  • Guidance document on how to access and navigate the Kobo form (EN | FR) and the Power BI Dashboard (EN);
  • Guidance videos on the Kobo form (EN) and the Power BI dashboard (EN);
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (EN | FR).

When a decision has been made to complete the Self-Assessment Questionnaire, the first step is to create a Kobo login account and then move ahead with the online Self-Assessment Questionnaire (login required).

For any query relating to the Asylum Capacity Self-Assessment Tool, kindly contact us through [email protected].