Events
Public-Private Partnerships for Agricultural Insurance
Lima, Peru
7 July 2011
Uncovered risk can stifle economic growth but recent innovations demonstrate there are cost effective ways to transfer risk. Strategic risk layering, namely catastrophe protection provided by the public sector layered with private low-cost livelihood insurance for individuals, would promote agricultural growth, protect assets, deepen rural financial markets and establish financially sound disaster response and social protection mechanisms for governments. Public investment in quality agricultural information systems engenders risk management tools from the national to individual levels. Accurate information systems allow a government to gauge the severity of a catastrophic event and provide region-specific assistance proportional to the disaster. Improved information systems would also allow for more accurate and lower cost private risk transfer tools, such as index insurance, and crowd in agricultural growth through increased access to productivity enhancing services.
To discuss risk transfer innovations and their applications to the Pan-Andean region, the I4 Index Insurance Innovation Initiative hosted a convening on the synergies between the public and private sectors for risk layering. The meeting elucidated potential roles for public and private actors in risk management and agricultural information systems. Participants from the policy, regulatory, financial services and research communities offered unique perspectives. Representation encompassed the Pan-Andean region, including Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile and Bolivia.
Conference Agenda, Papers and Presentations
Public-Private Partnerships for Agricultural Risk Management through Risk Layering, by Michael R. Carter, Elizabeth Long and Stephen Boucher.
I4 Technical Meeting
Washington, D.C.
13-14 May 2011
Conference Agenda, Papers and Presentations
Index Insurance for Agriculture in Ethiopia Workshop
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
9 December 2010
The Index Insurance for Agriculture in Ethiopia Workshop brought together participants from the insurance, regulatory and financial services industry. Presentations and discussions highlighted the challenges of uninsured agricultural risk and the role of formal insurance products. A review of current insurance activites and plans for forthcoming work were discussed.
Conference Agenda and Presentations
I4 Scientific Meeting
Rome, Italy
15-16 January 2010
Uninsured risk can drive people into poverty and destitution, especially those in low-wealth agricultural and pastoralist households. Risk can cause people to shy away from high-return activities or pursue defensive savings strategies that cut off sustained accumulation of productive assets. Risk also inhibits the development of rural financial market, which reinforces risk’s negative impacts.
The I4 Scientific Meeting brought together leading researchers and policy makers from the United States Agency for International Development, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the Micro-Insurance Innovation Facility of the International Labour Organization, Oxfam America, University of California, Cornell University, and Oxford University, among others, to create an action plan for rigorously testing the hypothesis that index insurance can reduce poverty, deepen financial markets and stimulate agricultural growth through productivity enhancing services.
Conference Agenda and Presentations
