Sub-Saharan Africa

Index Insurance Feasibility Study Workshop in Cameroon
At the request of the Government of Cameroon, the World Bank and the IFC have conducted a feasibility study that seeks to improve the knowledge and understanding of the market opportunity for index insurance. The findings were unveiled in Douala on December 15, 2016, at a workshop jointly organized by the World Bank Group and the Association of Insurance Companies of Cameroon (ASAC). The event was another milestone for Cameroon’s agricultural sector, which is increasingly experiencing shocks due to climate change. In 2015, this sector accounted for 20% of the country’s GDP, approximately US$6
In Kenya, Climate change Hits Home as Rivers and Taps Dry Up
As the 2016 short rains came late, Kenya's Meteorological Department had to warn that the shortfall might affect crop production and livestock farming, Kenya's Daily Nation reported. The country and other Southern African nations are currently witnessing two kinds of drought — hydrological and agricultural — both of which are causing disaster as water and food have become scarce, the report added. “We are at the point where people need to adapt. There is need for diversification and shift in the kind of crops to plant, and buying of crop index insurance,” says Department of Meteorology's
After a Poor Harvest in Senegal, farmers Find Creative Ways to Carry On
In an article entitled "After a Poor Harvest in Senegal, farmers Find Creative Ways to Carry On", Oxfam wrote that Senegalese farmers use index insurance to protect their livelihoods from a bad harverst due to poor rainfall. " Farmers can pay the premium with cash, or through a work-for-insurance program designed to help build community infrastructure like rock walls in areas prone to flooding and severe erosion, or small dikes to store water for more gradual use," reads the article. In Senegal, index insurance is provided through the Oxfam and the World Food Programme’s R4 initiative. Click
Agriculture Insurance Training in Johannesburg
More than 30 participants from seven African nations gathered in Johannesburg for two weeks in October 2016 to focus on the fundamentals of index insurance, and to discuss a wide array of development-related topics ranging from product design to project management. The workshop, entitled “Agriculture Insurance Training,” was organized by the World Bank Group’s Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF). Co-managed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), GIIF provides smallholder farmers, rural residents, microentrepreneurs and microfinance institutions with access to finance through the
New Climate Data in Zambia Unlocks Insurance Opportunities
In mid September, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) helped launch an innovative new data platform in Lusaka, Zambia that combines satellite rainfall estimates with the country’s existing network of rain gauges. The platform, developed with the Zambia Meteorological Department and through funding from NASA, is the latest to come out of IRI’s Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative which aims to address the persistent problem of data scarcity and lack of access to climate information products in many African countries. The World Bank Group’s
Edward and Pauline Mkopi, Trans Nzoia Farmers
In a case study, GIIF's Partner ACRE Africa reports that the project has helped Edward and Pauline Mkopi in Kenya protect their crops with weather index, area yield, and hybrid insurance. After several seasons of drought and excess rainfall, the Mkopis say "they now confidently invest in their maize and sunflower farm because they know they are insured against all kinds of risk." They also feel confident in working with ACRE Africa because the product relies on accurate data to determine how to do payouts.
Up in the Sky, Help to Keep Africans From Starving
In a New York Times' Opinion, Tina Rosenberg wrote that Andrew Mude, a Kenyan economist at the International Livestock Research Institute, is helping headers in Southern Africa insure their liveshock. Dr. Mude was awarded the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, which is a major prize in agricultural research, given by the World Food Prize Foundation. "Mude’s program began in one Kenyan county in 2010. Today, about 16,000 families are insured; most are in Kenya, and some are in southern Ethiopia," the op-ed says. To read the article on New York Times, please click here.
Innovative Insurance for the Adaptation to Climate Change in Ghana
Ghana is celebrating its Farmers’ Day with the theme "Agriculture: A Business Response To Economic Growth". The theme focuses on addressing alternative financial and agricultural solutions that will protect farmers from erratic weather conditions. One of the innovative solutions the country has is the project dubbed “Innovative Insurance Products for the Adaptation to Climate Change” (IIPACC), led by the German Development Co-operation (GIZ), in concert with other relevant stakeholders. "The project, which started in December 2009, sought to facilitate the development and introduction of
Kenyan Experience with Parametric Insurance
On October 11, 2016, Joseph A. Owuor of The Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya presented a presentation entitled "Kenyan Experience with Parametric Insurance" at a workshop in Guatemala. Aimed at raising awareness on parametric insurance among supervisory authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean , t he First Regional Workshop on Parametric Insurance was put together by Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation (Micro) and participated by many stakeholders such as Access to Insurance Initiative, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (Columbia University)
The World Food Prize Recognizes a World Bank Group's Grantee
Dr. Andrew Mude of the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, has been named the recipient of this year’s Norman Borlaug Award for his work in providing insurance to livestock herders in East Africa’s drylands through innovative, state-of-the art technologies. On October 12, 2016, Dr. Mude, a World Bank Group's grantee, was formally presented with US$10,000 and the “Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation”, in Des Moines, Iowa, as part of the 2016 World Food Prize international symposium. The award was given in