Articles

Microinsurance is one development tool that can aid poor entrepreneurs in the informal economy to manage risks, reduce vulnerability and sustain productivity. However, there are challenges both on the demand and supply sides that must be tackled by innovative insurers and their delivery partners if they are to serve the market effectively.

A vast majority of microinsurance programs at microfinance financial institutions (MFIs) start with offering some sort of credit life coverage, which stands as the most common product offered to low-income households. It is a logical starting point as it is easy for MFIs and insurers to introduce. However, credit life still doesn't bring, from the client value perspective, enough value and there is great scope for improvement. A way to increase credit life value for low-income people is to expand coverage to include additional risks.

Microinsurance practitioners are paying increasing attention to ways in which customers might be encouraged to combine savings with insurance. While the products may appear simple to customers, they are complex to manage. This article presents preliminary lessons on how to design product features that best serve the interests of both providers and clients.

Kelly Rendek has spent a year as a Fellow in Mongolia, providing technical assistance to Tenger Insurance (formerly Prime General Insurance), a Facility grantee. Tenger aims to become a leader in the microinsurance segment. In partnership with a Mongolian microfinance institution, Xac Bank, they developed a project proposal to pilot two microinsurance products - personal accident insurance and health insurance - and sell them through the Xac Bank branches, mostly to informal workers. This article provides a glimpse into Kelly Rendek's experience in Mongolia, the landscape of microinsurance in this vast country, and the challenges and successes of transferring expertise.

This new Facility´s article focuses on the topic of distribution channels to reach low-income people. Insurers may be efficient, but they often lack a clear understanding of low-income clients and ways to access poor markets. Thus, involving a distribution partner can help create a successful business model. Given the multitude of options available, what should insurers consider when selecting a distribution channel?

Microinsurance represents a promising new way to protect the poor, but reaching low-income markets sustainably requires creative new strategies. The ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility looks at how microinsurance providers are using technology to overcome the industry's challenges.

Women make up nearly half of migrants worldwide. Many leave their countries full of hope. For migrant workers, higher wages and remittances offer better living standards even at the cost of leaving their families behind. However connecting remittances to microinsurance coverage could provide them with a powerful tool to secure the livelihoods of their families. ILO Online reports from the Philippines where a microinsurance product has been launched to help overseas workers to not only protect their households but also save part of their earnings for the future.

So far, the most common application of index-based insurance in developing countries is linked to rainfall. However, a recent feasibility study indicates that area yield index insurance makes more sense for Malian cotton farmers.

15 years have passed since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing decided on a global platform for action on gender equality and women's empowerment. For poor women in developing countries, microinsurance coverage is an important safety net, providing a powerful tool to protect their households and productive assets. ILO Online reports from Kenya where microinsurance represents a new frontier of economic and social development.

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.

A large insurance firm and an association of water irrigation users have teamed up to become the first providers of micro-life insurance for millions of small farmers in Peru. The project, which has received support from the ILO´s Microinsurance Innovation Facility and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will allow a third of rural families in Peru to have access to social protection for the first time. ILO reports from Lima.

Work-related accidents and diseases take a grim toll every year. Although prevention can help improve occupational safety and health (OSH), microinsurance can also play a complementary role in coping with workplace risks and provide direct benefits to employers and workers.