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Housed at the International Labour Organization's Social Finance Programme, the Microinsurance Innovation Facility seeks to increase the availability of quality insurance for the developing worlds low-income families to help them guard against risk and overcome poverty. The Facility was launched in 2008 with the support of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Innovation grants
The ILO's Facility provides grants to support organisations to develop innovations in the microinsurance sector. The grants can support insurance against any type of risk, but priority is given to products where demand exceeds supply, such as agriculture, health, life and property.
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Innovation Grantees
Through the innovation grants, the Facility is encouraging a variety of organizations to engage with microinsurance in order to experiment with new products or partnerships. Click on this section to get an overview of our grantees, the projects they are implementing, and how these are intended to benefit the working poor.
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What's new
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Global stocktaking of impact assessments of microinsurance in progress
The Impact Working Group of the Microinsurance Network intends to map ongoing impact assessments of microinsurance. The Working Group was set up in 2007 and focuses on the impact of microinsurance on the client, especially in terms of financial protection and livelihoods. Organisations that are conducting impact evaluations of microinsurance are invited to fill out the short
Stocktaking Initiative Form - (doc 58 KB) and return it to
theresa@mia.org.in. Participating projects will be listed in a regularly updated online listing and in a brief note circulated among interested donors.
- Grants Officer
Reporting to the Chief Project Manager, the Grant Officer is responsible for reviewing proposals for innovation grants and capacity building services, preparing and issuing contracts, and monitoring contract performance. The officer will collaborate with the Senior Grants Officer and other team members in documenting lessons learned from grant recipients. The Microinsurance Innovation Facility encourages persons with relevant insurance expertise to apply their skills to solving key microinsurance challenges, which include managing huge volumes of small policies, marketing insurance to persons with limited education, collecting premiums from people without bank accounts, controlling adverse selection, moral hazard and fraud, and verifying and paying small claims. Interested applicants should have a first level university (Master being preferred) degree in economics, finance or actuarial science, social science, international studies or other relevant field, at least five years of professional experience in the insurance industry, two years experience working in developing countries with low-income households, and familiarity with grant making processes.
The deadline for applying is 16 November 2009. Go to the
ILO's vacancy page and apply online.
How Index Insurance can support climate change adaptation
Pranav Prashad, from the Facility, recently joined a panel of experts on Index Insurance at the
World Climate Conference 3. The conference aimed to establish an international framework for the development of climate services, linking science-based climate predictions with climate-risk management and adaptation. Weather based Index Insurance can be used by farmers in the developing world to insure their crops against increasingly unreliable weather patterns caused by climate change. Panelists from around the world shared their experiences from this growing field of microinsurance and discussed the potential of index insurance as an adaptation mechanism for climate change.
Audio recordings of the presentations by Mr Prashad and
Mr GE Heyou, of the Guoyuan Agricultural Insurance Company, China, are now available, highlighting the role of Index Insurance in India and in China. Mr Heyou's presentation is available in English and Chinese.
more >
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Feature story
Protecting the special health needs of women -
(pdf 211 KB)
Women´s health is particularly at risk due to the unhealthy environment, long working hours in hazardous conditions,
and lack of income to invest in prevention. The most significant risks that affect women´s health include maternal
mortality and complications surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS,
exposure to waterborne diseases, and respiratory problems and burns due to household work. If health microinsurance is
to become a valuable option to protect the livelihoods and health of low-income women, its design and delivery has to
overcome many challenges.
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