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Microinsurance: Extending Pro-Poor Risk Management through the Social Fund Platform

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Publication date
30/10/2008
Number of Pages
8
Language:
English
Type of Publication:
Working Papers & Briefs
Focus Region:
Global
Focus Topic:
Gender / Youth / Social Inclusion
Type of Risk:
Biological & environmental
Type of Risk Managment Option:
Risk transfer
Commodity:
Other
Author
Marc Maleika, Anne T. Kuriakose
Organization
The World Bank

Microinsurance can be an effective complement to existing menus of social protection programs. A flexible and powerful instrument, microinsurance (MI) reduces vulnerability and mitigates the negative effects of external shocks on poor households. However, microinsurance programs require well-developed institutional arrangements in order to run in an efficient and effective manner. Such conditions can be difficult to find in low-income countries. Social Funds can help bridge this gap, standing as a platform to organize and deliver microinsurance products. This Social Funds Innovations Note introduces some of the primary design principles behind microinsurance program development, highlighting cases of best practice, and suggests how Social Funds can be used to deliver microinsurance services more effectively to poor households.