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Insurance is a largely invisible yet ubiquitous part of our economies. Our health, movements, purchases, homes, and even lives are usually covered by insurance. Without insurance, the unpredictability of the future would be too great and it would be difficult to take risks and innovate. In other words, insurance typically allows people to break the psychological and financial barriers which normally prevent them from engaging in potentially riskier activities thus forgoing greater reward and innovation. Insurance has contributed to macroeconomic development through economic growth, stabilization, distribution, and innovation.

Companies could unlock US$3.7 trillion a year in cities with an annual investment of US$2.5 trillion in sustainable business models by 2030. The opportunities are broken down across 16 areas, including affordable housing, energy efficiency in buildings, improved mobility systems, building resilient cities, smart metering, modular and timber buildings, water infrastructure and cultural tourism. Researchers estimate a range of value for each opportunity.

This paper introduces the IB Scan, a method to reveal crucial insights on the inclusion of smallholders in agricultural value chains complementing conventional data collection methods. The IB Scan offers companies, producer organisations, NGOs, and service providers a fast and efficient monitoring tool to measure the inclusivity of a particular business model as it is perceived by smallholder farmers.

This report aims to help unlock business opportunities that advance the health, rights, and well-being of women in global value chains. It highlights the benefits of investing in women along the value chain and provides a framework for action and practical guidance for companies to identify and strengthen value-chain investment opportunities that deliver positive returns to business, women, and society.

Index-based insurance is an innovative financial service that can help smallholder farmers manage some of the risks related to weather conditions. On one hand, the increasing availability of this financial service offers a big opportunity to both farmers and providers. On the other hand, the complexity of this risk management tool can lead to poorly-understood index insurance products that may do more harm than good. This Briefing Note has been produced as part of the Global Action Network to advance agriculture insurance, a partnership between the Facility, USAID and the BASIS Assets and Market Access Innovation Lab/I4 Index Insurance Innovation Initiative at the University of California Davis.

The paper highlights critical pathways for developing a radical mind set that aligns sustainability with profit and transforms business and markets. It is a practical guide for those who recognise that the challenge is no longer how to build the business case for action, but how to evolve and deploy the business models needed to create new forms of financial and extra-financial value.

Index-based insurance is an innovative financial service that can help smallholder farmers manage some of the risks related to weather conditions. Considering the lessons and insights gathered from index insurance and financial education projects, as well as from the field of behavioural economics, the Global Action Network to advance agriculture insurance (GAN), coordinated by the International Labour Organisation’s Impact Insurance Facility and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has worked to put together guidelines for index insurance education to support the industry to deal with this task.

With 1.5 billion people worldwide getting access to financial services through a post office, postal networks are powerful tools to advance financial inclusion. Posts possess or can develop characteristics such as client understanding, product diversification, national outreach, rural advantage, and trust with clients that have the potential to transform postal networks into well-suited providers of insurance. Insurance is a relatively easy way for posts to diversify their sources of revenue.

This study by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) delves into the transformative potential of postal networks into well-suited providers of insurance. The report concludes by presenting three types of business models in which postal insurance can help advancing financial inclusion through insurance access.