Many of the world’s populations are vulnerable to climate shocks – to drought, flooding, irregular rainfall and natural disasters. For these countries, cities, and communities, index-based insurance is a critical risk-management tool which allows victims of such shocks to continue to have access to finance and to build resilience against future risks. Index, or parametric, insurance pays out benefits based on a pre-determined index for the loss of assets and investments as a result of weather or other catastrophic events. In contrast, traditional insurance relies on assessments of the actual...

Since the World Bank Group first forayed into index insurance in 2000, the financial instrument has been widely accepted as an innovation that helps small players gain access to finance and sustain their livelihoods. In the context of climate change, index insurance has helped vulnerable populations build resilience and protect themselves against catastrophes and climate risks. Index insurance pays out benefits on the basis of a pre-determined index for loss of assets and investments resulting from weather and catastrophic events. Without requiring the traditional services of insurance claims...

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...

ACRE Africa, a GIIF partner in East Africa, is a microinsurance product designer that helps foster equity, fairness, and innovation in the agricultural sector. As farmers in the region experience changing weather conditions, with delayed rain and more frequent incidents of drought, ACRE Africa engages stakeholders along the agricultural value chain and advises insurers on the development and distribution of low-cost insurance to protect smallholders’ investments. The following story is told by one of the beneficiaries of ACRE Africa. Jacinta Mutuse is a 36-year old farmer and the mother of...

1. What is the current status of GIIF projects in Asia? GIIF has several active projects in Asia that have gained momentum; two examples are our projects in Indonesia and the Philippines . The project in Indonesia is the Earthquake Index Insurance (EQII), which will protect the lending portfolios of banks from liquidity crises in the aftermath of an earthquake (as opposed to covering individual homeowners or individual property owners), and will help microfinance institutions (MFIs) and rural banks continue lending to communities. Because the project partner for this project, PT. Reasuransi...

In a CGAP blog, Lisa Morgan and Craig Churchill wrote that financial inclusion can and should play a critical role in boosting a nation’s health and well-being. But with savings and credit alone, it is difficult to cope with catastrophic losses, which really should be covered by insurance, ideally through a universal health coverage scheme as stipulated by the UN's Sustaianble Development Goal (SDG). Together savings, credit, and insurance can be a powerful poverty fighting triad. Given today’s digital advances, there are more opportunities than ever for financial inclusion find smarter ways...

Vanessa Meadu at University of Copenhagen's CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has created a colorful, comprehensive infographic that explains how index insurance could help millions of smallholder farmers fight back against climate change. For more information about the CGIAR and CCAFS, please visit their Linkedin Group at https://www.linkedin.com/company/cgiar-climate. More great presentations like this one can also be found at http://www.slideshare.net/cgiarclimate/ccafs-index-insurance-infographic-final.

The risk of drought is one of the biggest threats to livestock production in Uruguay. This is particularly relevant in livestock breeding bases, as the quality of the available pasture directly affects the quality of the livestock, and livestock fertility takes years to recover from bad droughts. In 2011 The World Bank Group (WBG) launched a feasibility study on developing an Index Insurance pilot in Uruguay, funded by the Government of Japan through the Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF). The study quantified the total number of reproductive livestock units as 3.8 million countrywide,...

Key findings from the Global expert workshop co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands and the Rabobank Group and organized by the World Bank’s FISF initiative . Workshop report including links to presentations made at the workshop is available here: Report on Financial Inclusion of Agriculture-Dependent Households Need to focus on broader array of financial services rather than just credit or insurance for agricultural production . Agricultural households have a broad range of financial service needs, several of them for lifecycle and business needs not related to agriculture...

This post was originally produced during the GIIF Conference held in Paris at the OECD Headquarters. The 6 key lessons learnt that emerge from the panel are as follows: Insurance needs to be part of a value add package that generates higher income for the farmers Governments play a key role in creating markets for agricultural insurance. Experiences in Peru, India and Senegal point to government interventions such as premium support, risk financing, and linkage to credit. There is a need to design and offer the right insurance product. Area Yield Index Insurance may offer an adequate...