[add] table of contents to collections.md file and the "What's in a Collection" section

needs-assessment/collections.md

@@ -1 +1,67 @@
-add information here regarding the different collections that currently exist in Strapi
+# Needs Assessment Strapi Collections
+
+## Overview of Needs Assessment Collections
+
+The **Needs Assessment** compiles global data on the needs of various groups across countries, regions, and subregions.
+
+This data is modeled in **Strapi** as a set of **collections**, each representing specific aspects of the data.
+
+These collections provide a structured data source that supports efficient querying and filtering in the frontend, allowing users to explore and display needs information by location, category, or other relevant attributes.
+
+## Table of Contents
+
+- [Overview of Needs Assessment Collections](#overview-of-needs-assessment-collections)
+- [What's in a Collection](#whats-in-a-collection)
+- Naming Conventions for the Strapi Collections
+- How to create a Collection
+- How to rename a Collection
+- List of Strapi Collections Related to the Needs Assessment
+
+## What's in a Collection
+
+A **collection** is one of Strapi's three content-types (formally called a _collection type_). It contains fields that define the data structure for that collection. Fields can be added when creating the collection or later during edits and updates.
+
+### Viewing a Collection
+To view a collection in Strapi:
+1. Ensure the **Strapi Admin Panel** is running in your browser.
+
+2. Select the **Content Manager** icon from the navigation menu (see Figure 1). A list of available collections will appear.
+
+<figure>
+  <img src="../images/content-manager.png" alt="Content Manager icon in the Strapi navigation menu that opens Collection Types column" style="max-width: 80%; height: auto;">
+  <figcaption><strong>Figure 1.</strong> Strapi Content Manager icon in the navigation menu.</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+3. Click the name of the collection you want to view (for example, `Product.Category`)
+
+4. The main panel should now display the collection title and a table showing several of its fields. If entries exist, they'll appear as rows in the table.
+
+5. To view or customize the displayed fields, select the **View settings** toggle above the top-right corner of the table (see Figure 2). 
+
+<figure>
+  <img src="../images/view-settings.png" alt="View settings toggle" style="max-width: 80%; height: auto;">
+  <figcaption><strong>Figure 2.</strong> View settings toggle.</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+- In this panel, you can:
+    * Choose which fields to display
+    * Reset the default view
+    * Configure the display order of fields
+
+### Automatically Generated Fields
+Strapi automatically creates and populates the following fields in every collection:
+
+* `id`
+* `createdAt`
+* `createdBy`
+* `documentId`
+* `updatedAt`
+* `updatedBy`
+
+Other fields (such as `name`) are determined by the data requirements specific to each collection and are added manually during collection creation or during updates. 
+
+Some collections also contain auto-populated fields configured during setup. For details about these specific fields, see [our field types documentation](./field-types.md).
+
+For more information on Strapi content-types, including the collection type, and creating content-types manually, see these [Strapi docs](https://docs.strapi.io/cms/features/content-type-builder).
+
+>**NOTE**: All current Strapi collections related to Needs Assessment have been created manually. They were not generated using Strapi's AI features.