Making Insurance Work for the Poor: 5th International Microinsurance Conference 2009

This report is the summary of the 5th International Microinsurance Conference that took place in Dakar, Senegal, on 3-5, November 2009. The conference drew the attention of industry leaders and development professionals to microinsurance in Africa. It focused on understanding the bottom end of the market and on transforming this knowledge into action to help low-income people manage risks.

Microinsurance is growing in Africa, with the number of low-income people covered in the continent increasing by about 80 percent from 2006. Substantial parts of the country, however, do not yet have access to microinsurance. Health, agriculture and property covers are a mere fraction of life insurance coverage. The Microinsurance Network has kept pace with growing demand by increasing its facilitating role on the supply side. The conference identified four essential issues for microfinaurance development in Africa. They are:

• Implementing simple and appropriate products that are consumer friendly;
• Creating structures capable of hosting microinaurance activities that comply with prudential provisions;
• Adapting delivery channels to client needs;
• Amending legal and regulatory framework by enlarging current provisions or creating a new framework.