Publication database

This textbook, designed for middle and senior managers in microfinance institutions, is relevant for institutions that have already diversified and are looking for ways to manage their diversification more effectively as well as those that have not yet done so and are looking for guidance on where and how to begin. This second volume builds on the highly acclaimed "Making Microfinance Work: Managing for Improved Performance".

This report examines the impacts and implications of mobile water payments with a comparative assessment from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia. It analyses levels of adoption, customer motivations and barriers, and the distribution of costs and benefits across stakeholders.

Distribution to the BoP is a highly under-researched field, but one that has the potential to improve the well-being of millions. Most research in this field has been focussed on the process of innovating for product design, with less focused on distribution. While this research focuses on Ghana, this work aims to create the foundation for a better BoP distribution model which can contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable development in developing countries around the world. 

Some health microinsurance (HMI) schemes require that patients pay cash at the time of receiving health care services, and then seek reimbursement from the insurer at a later date. For low-income households, this can be a severe financial barrier. One common way to alleviate this barrier is to set up a third-party payment (TPP) mechanism with selected health care providers. A TPP mechanism is a model for claims payment in which insured patients are not required to pay the entire cost of health services covered by the HMI scheme at the time the services are rendered. Microinsurance Paper #13 draws on the experience of various health microinsurance schemes and presents the pros and cons of using a TPP mechanism. It also presents key issues to address when establishing and managing a TPP mechanisms, as well as tips and solutions collected from case studies and experts` interviews. 

The third-party payment (TPP) mechanism is a model where insured patients are not required to pay the cost of health services covered by the insurance at the time the services are rendered. While the TTP (also called "cashless") mechanism is not new in health insurance, setting up and managing a TPP mechanism for a health microinsurance scheme presents unique challenges. Briefing Note #11 draws on the experience of various health microinsurance schemes and presents the pros and cons of using a TPP mechanism. It also presents key issues to address when establishing and managing a TPP mechanism, as well as tips and solutions collected from cases studies and experts' interviews. 

Research Paper #8 estimates the role of information in insurance take-up using data from a randomized experiment in rural China where information was either offered directly through financial education or accessed indirectly through social networks. Unlike previous studies, the experimental design allows to not only identify the causal effect of social networks, but also to differentiate the various channels through which they operate, including improvement of negotiating power, imitation, and social learning of insurance benefits. The results show that social networks have a large and significant effect on insurance take-up decisions mainly driven by the social learning of insurance benefits. The policy implication is that offering financial education to a subset of households in a village community selected for their strong friendship links with others, their recognized farming skills, and leadership roles, and relying on social networks to extend its effect on more farmers through social learning, is an effective way of improving insurance take-up.

Are clients benefiting from microinsurance? How do we measure those benefits? How do we improve the value proposition for the clients? Microinsurance Paper #12 contributes to this discussion by focusing on improving client value rather than proving it. It presents results from the analysis of 15 microinsurance schemes in Kenya, India and the Philippines using the ILO's client value assessment tool called PACE (Product, Access, Cost and Experience). The PACE tool looks at the added value for clients from insurance products by comparing them to each other and to alternative means of offering protection from similar risks. The results show that there is a place for microinsurance to add value on the top of informal risk-sharing practices and existing social security schemes to protect low-income populations against life and health risks. The paper presents also a menu of interventions that can further improve client value from microinsurance. 

Are clients benefiting from microinsurance? How do we measure those benefits? How do we improve the value proposition for the clients? Briefing Note #10 contributes to this discussion by focusing on improving client value rather than proving it. It presents results from the analysis of 15 microinsurance schemes in Kenya, India and the Philippines using the ILO's client value assessment tool called PACE (Product, Access, Cost and Experience). The PACE tool looks at the added value for clients from insurance products by comparing them to each other and to alternative means of offering protection from similar risks. The results show that there is a place for microinsurance to add value on the top of informal risk-sharing practices and existing social security schemes to protect low-income populations against life and health risks. The paper presents also a menu of interventions that can further improve client value from microinsurance. 

As a consequence of climate change, agriculture in many parts of the world has become a riskier business activity. Given the dependence on agriculture in developing countries, this increased risk has a potentially dramatic effect on the lives of people throughout the developing world especially as it relates to their financial inclusion and sustainable access to capital. Research Paper #7 analyses the relationships between rainfall per crop gestation period and crop yields and studies the likelihood of crop yield losses. It makes recommendations on how this information could be used to develop a trigger for index insurance to help mitigate the financial risks to farmers and lenders who make loans to farmers in Ghana. The paper concludes by describing limitations and challenges that must be overcome in order to develop such risk management tools and by describing the potential for crop loss index insurance based on area crop yield in northern Ghana.

Research Paper #6 observes the feasibility of implementing area yield insurance and weather insurance schemes for transferring financial risk and managing production risks. The objective included developing a composite insurance product based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and weather indices via a participatory approach; testing the yield loss estimation accuracy of such a product; and understanding people`s perceptions about the performance of the product. A relationship was found between the uptake of insurance and being above poverty line, subject to the buyer having heard about the insurer earlier, expecting a bad cropping season ahead, and having a close friend who has availed of the insurance scheme.