July 9, 2019; Mumbai (INDIA): The Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) and Sankalp Forum by Intellecap, announced the winners of Agriculture Insuretech Innovation Challenge at the Agri Insuretech Forum that took place at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai today. Of the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers, around 400 million are in Asia. The region is home to some of the world’s most climate-exposed territories and has been disproportionately hit by the effects of climate change, and farmers are suffering from crop failures that can threaten their economic livelihood. The Global Index

Pakistan is one of key countries in GIIF’s portfolio with big scale-up potential due to sizable farmer population. Agriculture sector contributes to 19% of GDP in Pakistan, employing 42% of labor force. Punjab is Pakistan’s most important agricultural province with 5.2 million mainly smallholder farmers, but the sector growth has been lagging for most part of the past three decades. As part of “Strengthening Markets for Agriculture and Rural Transformation in Punjab” (SMART Punjab) project, GIIF has been providing insurance solutions to improve farmers’ resilience to climate change and natural

Since 2016, GIIF has been providing technical assistance to Mayfair Insurance, a private insurer registered in Zambia, to build its capacity to underwrite insurance products that protect vulnerable farmers against weather-related crop losses. Mayfair works with select aggregators to more efficiently reach the target farmers and has also been contracted by the Ministry of Agriculture to develop insurance products that can be bundled together with the government input subsidy package under the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP). This way, the input subsidy received by each farmer would be

Senegal is a strong example of continuous improvement in agriculture insurance sector from GIIF’s long-term financial, operational and technical support. At present, in addition to targeted technical trainings, GIIF’s focus is to scale up product offerings of the country’s national agriculture insurance company Compagnie Nationale d’Assurance Agricole du Sénégal (CNAAS) and modernize its technological infrastructure. While agriculture in Senegal contributes to 35% of annual GDP, the systems are largely rain-fed and underdeveloped. The country is vulnerable to several climate-related risks

Since its inception in 2009, ACRE Africa - the Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise , which evolved from the Kilimo Salama project, has benefited extensively from GIIF’s financial, technical and operational assistance, continuously enhancing its institutional capacity to underwrite agriculture insurance for smallholder farmers. GIIF’s intervention ranges from providing core insurance trainings and upskilling, which are the backbone of innovative solutions to close the protection gap, to funding relevant WB-led activities including fostering a successful public-private partnership for Kenya

The InsuResilience Global Partnership Forum 2019 In December 2019, the 3rd InsuResilience Global Partnership Forum took place at the margins of the UN Climate Change Conference COP 25. Around 150 people from G20, V20 and other countries, international organizations, civil society, the private sector and academia came together to discuss the role of climate and disaster risk finance and insurance (CDRFI) solutions for strengthening adaptation and resilience, with a focus on the Caribbean and Latin America. Read more The Natural Disaster Fund (NDF) Launched at COP25 At the UN Climate Change

From December 2 - 6, 2019, the IFC in collaboration with Africa Re delivered training to the Nigerian insurance market as part of the Index Insurance Technical Assistance Program, which will run until December 2020 and is funded by the WBG’s Global Index Insurance Facility. The program is aimed at providing technical capacity to insurers interested in developing products that will build the resilience of smallholder farmers in the country. In 2019, the number of insured smallholder farmers increased from approximately 15,000 in 2018 to approximately 191,000. The event took place at the Golden

Fiji, October 17, 2019 – IFC and the Fijian Government have signed an agreement that paves the way to help the country’s disadvantaged families and farmers gain access to an insurance payout in the event of a severe cyclone. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed at a meeting on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings in Washington DC, by Fiji’s Minister of Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum(link is external) and IFC’s Vice President for Asia and the Pacific, Nena Stoiljkovic(link is external). This IFC initiative is undertaken as part of the Fiji Partnership, supported by Australia and in

On Sept 23, 2019, the InsuResilience Global Partnership (IGP) announced its Vision 2025 and work plan at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. In the communiqué, IGP committed to enhancing climate and disaster risk finance and insurance ( CDFRI) as a solution to close the protection gap and emphasize the urgency of scaling up and accelerating risk financing in 2019 and beyond. In its Vision 2025 and Workplan, IGP dedicated to achieving ten goals, including: 500 million poor and vulnerable people covered against disaster and climate shocks by pre-arranged risk finance and insurance

GIIF signed grant agreements with two Cameroonian insurance companies, ACTIVA Assurance and AXA Cameroon, to help tens of thousands of Cameroonian farmers and pastoralists, especially in the cotton, maize, sorghum and livestock sectors, acquire affordable insurance coverage. Both IFC partner insurance companies have already established strong relationships with cotton industry players - SODECOTON and the National Confederation of Cameroon Cotton Producers (CNPCC) - and have provided index insurance to nearly 8,000 cotton growers in the Northern region of the country for the 2019 campaign. To