Community risk transfer through micro-finance

Microinsurance is emerging as a potential instrument for transferring natural disaster risks by providing cover, or indemnification, against losses from a disaster event. Currently there is a need for more learning informed by practice, in order to ensure the affordability for the poor and the viability of such products from a commercial point of view.

This issue of southasiadisasters.net examines the subject of microinsurance and discusses the opportunities and challenges that have been learned through recent experiences in implementing microinsurance schemes in Asia. The opening articles introduce the concept of risk transfer that underpins microinsurance and discuss its relevance to disaster mitigation. Case study examples illustrate different approaches to microinsurance, including a range of insurance services and products tailor-made for low-income communities, and highlight salient lessons learned for the evolving microinsurance agenda.

Topics covered by the articles include:

• the benefits and disadvantages of different models for delivering microinsurance
• insurance models for developing countries from developed countries
• learning from the positive experiences in the field of microfinance
• a life and non-life insurance product for the poor: the Afat Vimos scheme
• product innovations: the index insurance
• due diligence checklist for identifying an insurance partner
• commodity risk management for developing countries
• SWOT analysis of index insurance products.