MFIs remain a key distribution channel for microinsurance and we are proud many MFIs are members of our network, including, for example, Pakistan Microfinance Network. The MiN’s objective is to promote the provision of responsible and inclusive insurance products and services. Ensuring that MFIs offer credit-life products or maintain other forms of insurance to manage their own exposure is one aspect of our work.
Another significant aspect is helping MFIs to develop products that provide better value to their clients, e.g. forms of income protection in addition to protecting the outstanding loan amount, better risk management practices, access to health insurance and helping to develop the capacity to help MFI clients manage risk holistically, particularly MSME clients.
We seek to achieve these objectives by providing a platform for knowledge exchange that is partly virtual, but increasingly practical through on-the-ground workshops and participation in conferences and, looking to the future, through targeted strategic communications to raise awareness of the need for inclusive insurance solutions that match the needs of low-income customers. This is closely allied with the broader development agenda that is expressed so articulately through the sustainable development goals for 2030.
We also produce research on the inclusive insurance market, notably the landscape of microinsurance, which measures market trends in terms of the evolution of service provision (no. of policies, etc.) and the state of microinsurance, which seeks to validate the impact of insurance on achieving specific development goals.