Insurance Education (MiN)
Research + Advocacy
Project Title:Facilitation of the Microinsurance Network's Insurance Education Working Group
PROJECT CATEGORY:Research + Advocacy
OBJECTIVE:
The project seeks to promote microinsurance through taking stock of educational materials already developed, identifying and documenting best practice, encouraging the sharing of resources across the microinsurance community, and designing new materials to further promote awareness and intake of microinsurance to resource-poor populations.
BACKGROUND:
Insufficient market education is a major obstacle to the expansion of microinsurance. People who do not know what insurance is, how it works and why it might be good for them are less likely to spend money on insurance.
Quality educational materials on microinsurance – particularly when coordinated in an effort to avoid duplication and encourages sharing of “best practice” – holds great potential to many stakeholders in the microinsurance sector. In 2009 the Working Group undertook two interconnected activities: a survey, which will be presented in the form of report portraying the state of insurance education cross the globe; and the conceptualization of a virtual platform for sharing training resources on insurance education.
PROJECT CONCEPT:
The project has two main goals.
First, to publish a report:
- Providing a global landscape of insurance education
- Identifying the existing gaps, as well as finding best practices
- Highlighting the need of building capacity for insurance education
Second, to establish a Virtual Library, which will:
- Offer a platform for sharing training resources and educational material
- Avoid the unnecessary duplication of efforts in designing training resources and educational material
- Create a platform for a community of microinsurance professionals to address issues pertaining to insurance education
PARTNERS:
The project will be conducted in collaboration/partnership with Financial Access Initiative, a consortium of researchers at NYU, Yale, Harvard and IPA, USA; Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance, Geneva, Switzerland; Microinsurance Network; and ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility, Geneva, Switzerland.
FUNDING:
The project is funded by the Microinsurance Network
DURATION:2008 - 2012
COUNTRY:International
LOCATION:
The scope of the project is global. MIA's researchers activities are based in New Delhi, with one researcher working from USA.
CONTACT:Juho Siltaten, Researcher, juho@mia.org.in
PROGRESS:
In 2009 the Working Group undertook two interconnected activities, which serves as the basis for its work in 2010: a survey, which will be presented in the form of a report portraying the state of insurance education cross the globe; and the conceptualization of a virtual platform for sharing training resources on insurance education.
