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Grantee
FUNDASEG - the foundation of the Colombian insurance federation (FASECOLDA) - is a non profit organisation with 30 years of experience. The foundation has a social mission to overcome poverty in Colombia through education programmes directed at low-income people. FUNDASEG promotes and encourages the Colombian insurance sector to commit to the poorest sections of society. Its activities focus on developing skills and abilities in these communities through literacy and financial literacy programmes to allow low-income populations to improve their livelihoods and overcome poverty.
Consortium members:
FASECOLDA , the Colombian insurance federation, links and represents all public and private, commercial and cooperative insurance companies that operate in Colombia.
The National Learning Service (SENA in Spanish), a public entity, promotes free professional training for low-income people.
Project Summary
- Project name: Risks and insurance literacy
- Project start date: June 2009
- Duration: 3 years
- Country: Colombia
Beneficiaries
In Colombia, 21 million people are living in poverty. These individuals have a far greater exposure to risk. When risks occur, informal credit remains the most commonly used method to cover the damage and related expense. The majority of low-income people are not aware of the range of available financial options that can be used to cope with emergencies.
FUNDASEG's risks and insurance literacy programme targets low-income adults, preferably affiliated with cooperatives, NGOs, microfinance organisations, banks, public services or state-run social programmes. The intention is to link insurance companies offering microinsurance to these institutions so as to better meet the protection needs of low-income households.
It is estimated that the programme will train 27,000 people through workshops, while through mass media (videos and printed media) it could reach 300,000 people.
Project Description
The aim of the project is to deliver the literacy programme through public-private partnerships. A range of strategies and channels will be used, including workshops and mass media approaches. The project will seek to identify which approaches are the most effective on the basis of a cost benefit analysis. Effectiveness will be defined not only as delivering quality training to the larger number of low-income people, but as successfully promoting changes in perceptions and behaviour towards risk.
The project will be developed in three phases. The first is to be the research and development phase to identify the mass media methods that best suit the profile of the target population. The education materials will be produced on the basis of the research findings. During the second phase, training materials will be diffused through mass media and workshops. The third phase will involve evaluation and adaptation to assess the impact and sustainability of the various approaches.
Key Challenges
Programme development could be affected by the following potential problems:
- Lack of interest by insurance companies, microfinance institutions, cooperatives, NGOs or
other relevant organisations in training their members, clients or potential clients.
- Lack of interest from the target population in receiving training.
- Cancellation of the agreement with SENA, the organisation with whom the programme is currently operating
which provides trainers for the workshops.
Learning Agenda
The project seeks, at the outset, to answer the following questions:
- Is financial education in risk and insurance an appropriate intervention, does it respond to both a need and a demand?
- What are the benefits of financial education for the various actors involved in the programme?
- Is the content of the risk and insurance literacy programme appropriate and sufficient?
- Does the programme bring about changes in behaviour and perceptions of beneficiaries regarding risk and insurance?
How can these changes be measured?
- Which approach, or combination of approaches, is the most efficient way to deliver financial education? What are
the pros and cons of each approach for changing behaviours?
- Does the sustainability of an education programme necessarily depend on an alliance with the public sector?
What alternatives could there be?
More information on the project
Website of the grantee:
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