Political Champions Partnership for Stimulating Insurance Penetration in Lower Income Countries
After the last Champions’ meeting in April, an expert-level group consisting of donors, insurers and international financial institutions was formed to act on the decision to undertake joint work to scale up disaster risk insurance in lower income countries. Seven countries were selected: Bangladesh, Ghana, Haiti, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania and Vietnam. The World Bank/Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GDFRR) led in preparing country scoping studies with inputs from the group. These were summarized in a set of country notes. From the country scoping studies, the expert-level group proposes that Kenya, Bangladesh and Senegal are selected for the next phase. This will involve confirming the interest and commitment of the governments to engage in this initiative and undertaking field visits to conduct more detailed, in-country assessment to identify opportunities for scaling up insurance in support of building resilience. Each assessment will result in a recommended program of investment to stimulate insurance scale up. This will include recommendations on how to improve the coordination of existing efforts, how to fill gaps (such as continued investment in market infrastructure), how to scale up pilot initiatives and how to better link insurance solutions to existing financial products (such as credit) and social protection programs. By early 2014, the assessments will be completed. By April 2014, the recommended program of investment for each country will be presented to the donor and insurance community involved in this Political Champions’ initiative for their consideration and commitment of support.