Download full publication here. The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) is a voluntary membership organisation of insurance supervisors and regulators from more than 200 jurisdictions in nearly 140 countries. The mission of the IAIS is to promote effective and globally consistent supervision of the insurance industry in order to develop and maintain fair, safe and stable insurance markets for the benefit and protection of policyholders, and to contribute to global financial stability.

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

Full Publication here The four stages of agricultural development are: The case studies of Germany, the US, and South Korea reveal four largely linear stages of agricultural finance development within each country. These stages are differentiated by sources of farm debt, government roles, and the nature of farm structure and productivity. This briefing classifies these stages of agricultural finance development as:1. The informally-served stage2. The government-entry stage3. The bank-based stage4. The market-based stage

Gender equality is gaining increasing attention as illustrated by the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG number 3): “promote gender equality and empower women”.This goal was set after the realisation that women and men face the same obstacles but have unequal access to resources enabling them to overcome these obstacles: unequal access to resources,education, technology, labour, capital and credit.

Agricultural production is inherently subject to a variety of risks because management decisions or states-of-nature often generate future outcomes (either favorable or unfavorable) that cannot be predicted with certainty. The variability of these outcomes represents risk. Some risks are managed through production and fi nancial decision-making, while others are simply accepted as business expenses. In addition, some risks can be managed through a variety of contractual and insurancerelatedproducts. On average, financial activities with low levels of risk are associated with lower potential