In May 2017, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) was hailed as “Innovation of the Year” from the African Insurance Awards for its work on developing the index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) in the arid lands of Kenya and the Horn of Africa.

Using Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index (NDVI) that monitors livestock stress and mortality based on grazing conditions, the innovation offers a more convenient, objective measure upon which insurance contracts can be written. Which such an index insurance, herders can recover losses more quickly during and after severe droughts.

Takaful Insurance of Africa, co-nominee and winner, developed and implemented distribution models which include agents and a mobile money system that facilitates premium payments and payouts to the policyholders.

Once again, ILRI rose to the center stage for its innovative contribution to solving global problems.

In October 2016, ILRI’s Dr. Andrew Mude received the World Food Prize International Symposium's top honor — the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application — for his work on developing the livestock index insurance. Initially supported by the two World Bank Group (WBG) initiatives in East Africa - the Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) at the pilot stage and the Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Program (DRFIP) during the scale-up stage - Dr. Mude’s approach has been praised not only for its innovation but also for the impact it has made on people’s lives. Over time, financial access enabled by IBLI has prevented households from falling back into destitution. According to ILRI, insured households generate high milk production and incomes and have better child nutrition than do non-insured households.

Based on Dr. Mude’s innovation, and with the intellectual and technical support from WBG, the Government of Kenya launched the Kenya Livestock Insurance Program (KLIP) in the counties of Wajir and Turkana in 2015. Similar WBG’s efforts to protect headers from climate-related losses have also been undertaken in Mongolia and in Argentina and Uruguay, where the Bank conducted feasibility studies for the development of a suitable livestock index insurance.

Initiated by Africa Re in 2015, the African Insurance Awards honor distinguished companies, sector leaders, and stakeholders in the industry that have raised exceptional standards of competence and achievement and demonstrated an unprecedented level of insurance industry leadership. This year, the awards for Insurance Company of the Year and CEO of the Year went to Sanlam Emerging Markets (South Africa) and Delphine Traore Maidou, CEO of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Africa, respectively.

Congratulations to all the winners!