PKSF

DIISP (Developing Inclusive Insurance Sector Project): Protecting the continuity of the sustainable socio-economic upliftment of the poor

The vulnerability of the poor is exacerbated each time they incur a loss, creating a vicious cycle that precludes the lasting improvements of human and economic welfare. Microinsurance is expected to pool the risk by collecting relatively small premiums from a large population and funding relatively large payouts to small portion of that population that suffers losses from specified risky events. Since by nature it is micro and the number of poor is quite large so it is assumed that it might be affordable to both poor clients and insurance providers if designed and managed appropriately.

 With the financial grant (US$ 2 million) support from Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) and administered by Asian Development Bank (ADB), PKSF has started Developing Inclusive Insurance Sector Project (DIISP) in January 2010. The objective of this pilot project is to protect the livelihood of poor households, especially women, from risks such as accidents, illness, theft or natural disasters to secure their welfare and productive or non-productive assets through low cost inclusive insurance services (microinsurance). Mostly life, health, livestock and/or disaster insurance products will be offered to the low-income group with minimal documentation.

The Project has 4 major components: market assessment and microinsurance product development; strengthening policy, legal and regulatory framework for microinsurance; awareness creation and capacity development; and microinsurance pilot scheme. The Project Management Cell (PMC) of DIISP has selected 21 POs for field level implementation based on their competence and effectiveness in working with poor communities.

 PKSF received a grant fund from The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) to implement a project titled- ‘The health insurance for the poor of Bangladesh’. The RF project is expected to supplement the better implementation of DIISP and build the capacity of PKSF officials on microinsurance programmes through exposure-cum-study visits on the national insurance schemes of India, The Philippines and Thailand.