The Impact Insurance Facility of the UN’s International Labour Office (ILO) and the French government’s Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) recently signed a three-year partnership seeking to strengthen the resilience of middle-income workers in the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Financial details of this partnership have not been reported.
The partnership is intended to increase capacity building for six to eight partners in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as to increase participating governments’ awareness of microinsurance. Craig Churchill, team leader of the Impact Insurance Facility said, “With increased access to quality insurance products, low-income people will improve their resilience to risk, enabling them to adopt risk management and mitigation practices.”
Based in Switzerland, the Impact Insurance Facility was launched in 2008 as the Microinsurance Innovation Facility with a donation of USD 34 million from the US-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with the mission of enabling the insurance industry, governments and their partners to realize the potential of microinsurance with an emphasis on agriculture, health, life and property insurance.
By Meredith Steih, Research Associate
About Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD):
Established in 1941, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is a bilateral development finance institution that seeks to implement the overseas development assistance policies of the French government. AFD finances projects in approximately 90 countries in four continents. As of June 30, 2013, AFD had total assets of EUR 24.7 billion (USD 33.9 billion).
About the Impact Insurance Facility:
Launched in 2008 with a donation of USD 34 million from the US-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Impact Insurance Facility (IIF), is housed at the International Labour Organization’s (ILO’s) Social Finance Programme. Formerly known as the Microinsurance Innovation Facility, the enitity’s goal is to enable the insurance industry, governments and their partners to realize the potential of impact insurance with an emphasis on agriculture, health, life and property insurance. IIF also provides technical assistance and advice. As of 2015, it has received funding from donors including Z Zurich Foundation, Munich Re Foundation, the World Bank Group (WBG), the United States Agency for International Development and Australian Agency for International Development in addition to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. ILO is an agency of the United Nations and is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
About the International Labour Organization (ILO):
Founded in 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO), is an agency of the United Nations, an organization promoting peace and improved living standards. The objective of ILO is “to advance opportunities for men and women to obtain productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity”. Headquartered in Switzerland, ILO anticipates a budget of USD 801 million for the biennium 2014-2015. The International Labour Office is the permanent secretariat of ILO.
Sources and Additional Resources:
Impact Insurance Press Release: “The ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility partners with Agence Francaise de Developpement to stimulate innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa”, http://www.impactinsurance.org/news/2015/june/new-partnership-afd
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD)
MicroCapital Universe Profile: International Labour Organization
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