Sub-Saharan Africa

20
Jul
What happens when a major national development organization – GIZ and a leading private insurer – Allianz SE get together to build innovation in micro-insurance? Watch full video of the event here Experts presented key insights on micro-insurance with a larger view on how these lessons learnt can be applied to other inclusive insurance projects and to various other sectors. The 60 minute session showcased case-studies ranging from how GIZ has assisted Allianz in turning a corporate responsibility charitable micro-insurance story into a fully-fledged and profitable micro-insurance business
14
May
Can you give us some examples of key trade-offs that you have faced when providing technical support to the overarching policy discussion on regulation of index insurance in Kenya? The first trade-off that we have faced was in the definition of insurable interest. In the law of insurance, the insured must have an interest in the subject matter of his or her policy, or such policy will be regarded as a form of gambling. However, in Kenya most farmers do not own their land as they work on communal farms or as wage laborers. We therefore decided in our policy framework to define the insurable
11
May
What do you think of the upcoming index insurance regulation in Kenya? Well, at this stage, I think we have drafted a policy paper which sets guidelines for the future regulations , however I believe that we have here an opportunity to enhance access to insurance in Kenya. What are the expected benefits? One of the key expected benefits is the creation of a consumer protection framework. This means that index insurance products will need to be explained very clearly and in a simple way, and all the contract terms (ex: triggers, reference weather stations, index design etc...) will have to be
02
Apr
“ I did not believe in crop insurance before, but now it is a reality for me”! It is with great enthusiasm that 38-year old maize farmer Bessekourou Issiaka from Northern Benin received the first payout on his weather insurance policy. Because of the lack of rain this season, some of his maize fields generated less than half of their usual yield, or 800 kg/ha instead of the usual 2000 kg/ha. He is therefore quite relieved to receive FCFA 90,000, about 180 dollar insurance payout which will help him repay the loan he took to purchase inputs for the maize production. Bessekourou Issiaka is one
30
Mar
Insurers are trying to control costs and reach scale in agriculture insurance by designing meso-level insurance policies that cover large numbers of farmers associated with an aggregator (e.g. agribusiness firm, financial institution, input providers). Products are priced using a portfolio pricing model, meaning that the price is calculated on the basis of the whole group. This avoids the cost of assessing individual plots.A project in Mozambique supported by GIIF and implemented by reinsurance broker, Guy Carpenter, used a meso-level approach to cover cotton farmers through a public-private
24
Mar
“ We’re all Senegalese, and we should all have access to insurance” says Yoro POULO BA, a groundnut farmer from Ndoffane, a commune from the center of Senegal who just received insurance payouts as part of the GIIF-supported index insurance project. This year, the rains during the month of July - the sowing period for groundnut - were extremely low, therefore triggering automatic payouts for what is called “sowing failure”. The payouts that he has received amount to about 30% of the total insured amount, which is the amount of credit that he has borrowed for seeds and fertilizers needed for
2 Million African Farmers Insured For Weather & Catastrophe Risks: Swiss Re
One of the world’s largest reinsurance firms, Swiss Re, recently announced that two million African smallholder farmers are now protected against drought, floods and other natural perils, thanks to the efforts of the World Bank and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.Back in 2012, Michel Lies, Swiss Re’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) made a commitment that by 2017 it would protect 1.4 million African smallholder farmers from weather and catastrophe risks, through increased insurance protection. And now the Switzerland-based reinsurer has revealed that not only has the amount of farmers covered
Crop Microinsurance for Maize Farmers in Burkina Faso: Access and Agriculture Performance in the Dandé Village
Download full publication Crop insurance in the Sahel enables farmers to take a higherrisk by getting more fertilizers.Crop insurance in the Sahel stimulates the production of insured farmers compared with non-insured farmers. However, despite the apparent differences in fertilizers and production, the two groups get almost the same yield. Non-insured farmers seem to be more specialized in agriculture.
Index Insurance Takes Root as Climate Change Stings Agriculture
Big players such as Swiss Re plan to offer farmers in Africa, Asia and other emerging markets insurance products linked to weather indexes. Wagering on the weather might become a global business. Just ask the Climate Corp., an underwriter of insurance plans for farmers. Full article here
Breaking the ICE: The Role of Insurance Associations in Insurance Consumer Education
In the last decade, some insurance associations (IAs) have expanded beyond their traditional core functions to develop insurance consumer education (ICE) programmes. Based on a review of the experiences of IAs in five countries, namely Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Mexico and South Africa, Microinsurance Paper #31 discusses the steps that should be taken during the preparation of an ICE. These include assigning responsibility internally, defining funding mechanisms, setting clear goals, defining the programme target and identifying partnership opportunities. It goes on to summarize key lessons for