Emerging Insight: The best of 2021

In 2021, the ILO’s Social Finance Programme continued to draw insights from pioneering companies that are contributing to the development agenda. Our Emerging Insights of 2021 covered a variety of topics, including emergency loans, catastrophic agriculture insurance and innovative partnerships. Below are the three most popular Emerging Insights from 2021.

• Making the right tweaks to provide effective emergency loans. Group-based loans for small businesses have been the core offering of many microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world. But this type of product is not suitable to help a client cope with financial emergencies such as an illness or a household fire. Emergency loans may offer a solution for MFIs to help their clients. In this Emerging Insight, we shared how Dvara KGFS in India used lessons learnt from their pilot to improve their product.
• Public-private dialogues for sustainable agriculture insurance. The Peruvian Ministry for the Development of Agriculture and Irrigation has developed a catastrophic agriculture insurance product to enhance the competitiveness of Peruvian agriculture and to reduce the vulnerability of subsistence farmers to natural disasters. In this Emerging Insight, we covered the public-private dialogues that the ministry conducted with representatives, the insurance supervisor and the insurance association, in order to develop a joint agenda among all actors.
• Innovative partnerships to grow an insurance customer base. Which channels should a new insurance company use to grow their business? Brokers are an obvious choice, but plenty more non-traditional channels exist. Did you know that a radio station can also be a very valuable partner? This Emerging Insight covered the experience of ALM Seguros in Brazil, which partnered with a local radio station in Rio de Janeiro.