Capacity Building in Inclusive Insurance

Insurance is vital to social and economic development. Uninsured risk has devastating consequences on future generations and constraints their entrepreneurial potential. Shocks – such as illness or death, the loss of productive assets, and the destruction brought by disasters – can, in a single stroke, wipe out a poor family’s assets and its capacity to earn a basic living, bankrupt small and medium enterprises and even cause major negative financial consequences to governments. Insurance can make a tangible and crucial difference, and its benefits go beyond financial protection in the event of a shock. However, the insurance industry is not yet fulfilling its potential to support social and economic development. Many are the barriers that prevent this growth, including the shortage of skills in the insurance sector. While there is a growing knowledge about successful impact insurance operations, the dos and don’ts of designing and delivering valuable insurance products to underserved markets, these lessons have not been broadly disseminated. As part of their mandate to develop more efficient and impactful insurance markets, the ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility and the Insurance and Risk Finance Facility of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) seek to improve the quality and quantity of insurance through a structured approach that promotes a sustainable model for building insurance capacity in selected countries. The main direct target groups of the project are: 1) The insurance industry in focus countries, including insurance institutes, who will build their capacity to offer inclusive insurance trainings, as well as insurance companies and distribution channels that are willing and committed to acquire knowledge through trainings, in order to begin serving new market segments or to improve their current offer; 2) UNDP country offices, who will participate in capacity building activities focused on insurance and its contribution to social and economic development, and will acquire the necessary knowledge to integrate this tool in other UNDP projects. Through this capacity building project, the two organizations hope to enable hundreds of insurance practitioners to benefit from best practices and cross-country experiences, indirectly enabling underserved consumers, such as low-income households, small and medium enterprises, rural dwellers and women clients, to benefit from valuable insurance solutions and consequently contributing to social and economic development.

Project symbol

GLO/24/06/UND

Admin unit

SOCIAL FINANCE

Start date

01/04/2024

End date

15/09/2024

Total allocation

60017

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

60017

Development Partners

Multi Partner Trust Fund Office, UNDP

Country/Countries

United Republic of Tanzania

Outcomes

Outcome 6: Protection at work for all
Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises for inclusive growth and decent work