GENEVA (ILO News) ‒ The ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility is stepping up its activities to bring appropriate insurance products to low-income people and small and medium enterprises.

According to its Annual Report 2016, the Facility reached more than 250,000 beneficiaries, shared cutting-edge solutions with 56,000 stakeholders and improved business practices in 43 organizations.

The ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility also launched 11 innovation and change management projects in Sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD) and “Financial Sector Deepening Africa” (FSDA).

“These projects will enable us to continue to push the frontiers of insurance and test ways in which insurance can live up to its development potential,” said Craig Churchill, Chief, ILO Social Finance Programme.

“These innovations include efforts to integrate insurance into supply chains, strengthen public-private partnerships, and use technology to increase scale and efficiency – all promising solutions to enhance the impact of insurance and benefit both individuals and society,” he added.

By applying a change management framework, the ILO programme helps insurers to make the necessary changes within their organizations to better serve low-income markets.

The Facility also increased the reach of capacity building programmes, including ten “Training of trainers” courses at its partner institutes in Bangladesh, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya and the Philippines.

Other activities include ‒ among others ‒ new training courses to promote responsible insurance at the industry level as well as testing new industry-wide solutions to educate farmers cost-effectively on index insurance products, and innovative financial services that can help smallholder farmers manage some of the risks related to adverse weather conditions.