Publication database

The emergence of health microinsurance (HMI) programmes worldwide provides hope that the poor will receive, at a minimum, a reliable, adequate level of access to affordable healthcare. Led by the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and the ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility, Briefing Note #5, which is based on a longer thematic study that includes a literature review of 68 documents covering the period from 1999 to 2010 and expert interviews with more than 31 experts representing 25 organizations, focuses on private sector HMI and discusses the challenges that limit the growth and impact of HMI. In addition to identifying barriers to success, the authors present innovations that may move the field forward, including collaboration with public programmes.

This document provides a map of publicly-available tools and resources that support the initiation, development and scaling of inclusive business models. It covers resources of action including concept development, implementation, and measurement and evaluations; and resources for support which include case studies, networking, visibility and advocacy.

Consumer education can be one important component of microinsurance schemes; it benefits microinsurance practitioners by stimulating demand and helps low-income households make informed decisions. Led by ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility, Briefing Note #3 summarizes feedback collected by the Microinsurance Network's Insurance Education Working Group from more than fifty practitioners who were early implementers of consumer education schemes. The authors highlight key design features for content and delivery of education and provide examples of organizations that have successfully implemented the features in consumer education programmes. In the last section, they review the challenges of sustainability and monitoring and evaluation that are especially relevant for practitioners who want to integrate education into their business models.

One important lesson from behavioural economics is the understanding that small changes in the design of products and marketing can sometimes make a surprising difference in how and whether financial products are used. Led by the Financial Access Initiative, Microinsurance Paper #5 presents laboratory and field research examples from the field of behavioural economics to provide eight recommendations for microinsurance providers. The authors describe new insights into how households think about losses and gains, weigh present and future trade-offs, struggle with self-control, and are influenced by the way choices are framed. These insights can help insurers navigate how to improve product design, marketing, insurance education, pricing, and take-up.

One important lesson from behavioural economics is the understanding that small changes in the design of products and marketing can sometimes make a surprising difference in how and whether financial products are used. Led by the Financial Access Initiative, Briefing Note #4 presents laboratory and field research examples from the field of behavioural economics to provide eight recommendations for microinsurance providers. The authors describe new insights into how households think about losses and gains, weigh present and future trade-offs, struggle with self-control, and are influenced by the way choices are framed. These insights can help insurers navigate how to improve product design, marketing, insurance education, pricing, and take-up.

This report discusses what a sustainable world looks like, how can we realise it, and what role business can play in ensuring more rapid progress towards sustainability. It elaborates on nine areas for business action: values and behaviours, human development, economy, agriculture, forests, energy and power, buildings, mobility and materials. The report results from an 18-month combined effort with CEOs and experts, and dialogues with over 200 companies and external stakeholders in some 20 countries.

In 2009, the Microinsurance Innovation Facility published, in its Briefing Notes series, the results of a study that revealed the current landscape of microinsurance in Africa. The study, conducted in partnership with the MicroInsurance Centre, identified over 14 million low-income people in Africa who were covered by microinsurance at the end of 2008, almost double where this figure stood in 2004. Even with such growth, substantial parts of the continent remain almost barren of microinsurance. Microinsurance Paper #4 is an expanded version of those briefing notes, presenting more detailed results of the study and setting them in context. Market opportunity and demand are covered in depth, along with the African regulatory environment and other important enabling factors. The current outreach of microinsurance in Africa, including insurers, products, and delivery channels, is then presented from a practice-based perspective, with case studies and input from expert practitioners. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges that must be overcome in order to facilitate broader, high-quality expansion in the years to come.

Este documento presenta el abordaje conceptual que la Fundación AVINA ha desarrollado en torno a los negocios inclusivos, abordando de forma detallada el concepto, sus componentes, la relación entre negocios y mercados inclusivos, y el trabajo que ha realizado la fundación.

Este documento presenta una guía en la cual se identifican las causas y efectos de la pobreza en la población rural de México y se caracteriza un perfil de dicha población.

This case study showcases MAP International, which joined the Business Call to Action with its commitment to remove barriers such as physical infrastructure, that prevent local Ugandans from entering the formal financial sector. It outlines the company's goals which include providing two million people in Uganda with access to bank accounts; and it discusses how the business model works; the business and development impacts to date; and the key success factors.