13 February 2018
Insurance Scheme to Protect Poor from Climate Risks
Tea pickers in Mt. Kenya region / Photo credit Neil Palmer (CIAT)
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The insurance scheme, which will cover droughts in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Cambodia and tropical cyclones in Myanmar, uses an innovative financing structure that makes recovery lending scalable.

ARDIS is led by VisionFund International, the microfinance subsidiary of World Vision, and by Global Parametrics, which is funded by the UK and the InsuResilience Investment Fund.

18 January 2018: A US$10 million insurance scheme will help up to four million poor people in Africa and Asia deal with challenges arising from climate disasters. Known as ARDIS – the African and Asian Resilience in Disaster Insurance Scheme – the scheme has a credit line for disaster finance from the InsuResilience Investment Fund.

ARDIS is led by VisionFund International, the microfinance subsidiary of World Vision, and by Global Parametrics, which is funded by the UK and the InsuResilience Investment Fund. In its first year, ARDIS will provide credit to help farmers and small businesses cope with droughts and tropical cyclones. It will cover VisionFund’s clients, 80% of whom are women, who experience droughts in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Cambodia, and tropical cyclones in Myanmar. The scheme will expand to cover floods later in 2018.

ARDIS uses an innovative financing structure that makes recovery lending scalable. Recovery lending is provided through VisionFund’s microfinance institutions immediately during and after disasters to help clients maintain or restart economic activities, and to complement relief assistance. The scheme is expected to meet nearly 1% of a G7 goal that aims to increase access to insurance products that protect against climate risk to approximately 400 million uninsured people in developing countries by 2020. [UNFCCC Press Release] [Vision Fund News Story]

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