Microinsurance initiative for informal workers in the middle east

This project is all about helping DRC find opportunities to work with microinsurance in the Middle East. Microinsurance is an insurance product that's meant for low-income working households who don't have access to private or public insurance

Scoping opportunities for DRC to pilot a microinsurance initiative

Microinsurance provides financial protection to low-income households in case of unexpected events like natural disasters, wars, economic crises, or disease. It's an important tool for helping people who don't have any other safety nets during sudden crises. Microinsurance offers different types of coverage like life and health insurance with limited benefits for very low premiums. The goal of this project is to figure out how microinsurance works in the region, where DRC can get involved, and how they can start a pilot initiative to support informal workers affected by displacement. The project will result in recommendations for specific countries to focus on, details about the types of insurance to offer and who to target, and a plan for finding partners and donors for this initiative.

Expanding DRC's operations in the Middle East

Informal workers and smallholder farmers are extremely vulnerable to external shocks, including those triggered by climate change. This vulnerability, impacts individuals’ ability to move out of poverty, but is also shown to deter investment in potentially productive activities which support increased self-reliance. Due to its use in providing protection against external shocks at very low premiums, microinsurance has particular relevance for informal workers and smallholder farming communities. Poor and irregular pay, unstructured contracts or lack thereof, and unpredictable cash flows make traditional insurance inaccessible for informal workers and small holder farmers.

Microinsurance has been recognized, and successfully implemented, in countries outside DRC’s Middle East operations, as a means to support economic resilience amongst low income, displacement affected households. This proposed project will complement an existing initiative at DRC to examine social protection systems in the Middle East region and to identify high impact areas to support vulnerable communities.

Scoping and defining the approach

The aim of this project is to scope and define a programmatic approach for DRC to engage with microinsurance in the region. The consultancy is expected to provide:

Industry Analysis - in depth case studies of existing microinsurance programs in the region, analysis of products and program set up, financing and barriers
Feasibility Assessment - analysis of which country or countries with DRC ME operations would be feasible for a microinsurance pilot
Initiative Design & Technical Recommendations - initial pilot design and structure, donor mapping for funding pilot and subsequent programming