Challenge:
Natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, and hurricanes, push 26 million people into poverty each year and result in an estimated $300 billion in economic losses. Low-income communities and smallholder farmers in developing countries are often the hardest hit, because few have sufficient insurance against natural disasters. While almost half of all losses in developed countries are covered by insurance, only ten percent of losses in developing countries have similar protection.
Solution and Impact:
A DFC loan is helping the InsuResilience Investment Fund, a fund managed by BlueOrchard, work with financial institutions to develop and expand insurance to protect smallholder farmers and other climate-vulnerable and low-income populations in developing countries, against extreme weather and other natural disasters.
InsuResilience aims to protect more than 100 million of the most vulnerable people on the planet by developing insurance products for micro and small and medium enterprises, including smallholder farmers. Expanded access to insurance can reduce losses and humanitarian impacts by enabling more rapid response and relief efforts, especially within the agriculture sector.