The first step of the assessment was to prepare a preliminary zoning of the city, dividing the quartiers into 5 categories: Very Poor, Poor, Mixed, Middle and Rich.
This assessment focussed on the 12 months before the current assessment, from October 2002-September 2003, i.e. mainly before the recent expulsion of migrants.
The assessment aimed to answer basic questions such as: who are the poor, how consumption patterns change as households become poorer, coping mechanisms and capacity, how livelihood strategies have changed following the recent expulsion of migrants, and so on. The assessment also looked in some detail at the questions of access to water and to education.