Newsletter February

Visit by Annette Houtkamer, a Micro Insurance expert, the Co-founder for IBISA (Inclusive Blockchain Insurance using Space Assets)

Ms.Annette Houtkamer, has been associated with People Mutuals for more than a decade which is a Social Security initiative of DHAN Foundation. Her role as an Insurance advisor has been instrumental in developing mutual insurance. Her visit graced ART, 9th Advisory committee meeting and Mutual Crop Risk sharing program.

DHAN disseminates its knowledge and experience on micro-insurance to the sector in pursuit of achieving its mission of poverty reduction through training, education programmes, exposure programmes, workshops and seminars, and designing product based customized programmes. It has initiated a knowledge management and dissemination centre - Advanced Centre for Skill and Knowledge on Mutual Insurance (ASKMI) - a specialized knowledge centre of The Dhan Academy, a development education institute of DHAN Foundation. The institute has the core purpose to enable the world of practice to advance development action. ASKMI centre works to advance and promote insurance for the poor with an international perspective through knowledge building and dissemination processes such as research, documentation, training, education and policy advocacy. ASKMI uses the strength of ‘People Mutuals’, and also collaborates with different microinsurance stakeholders towards realizing its purpose.

DHAN has rich experience in both partner agent models of insurance and mutual insurance. The poor have gained access to insurance products from the formal insurance companies and from their mutual solutions which are evolved based on the gaps identified in the insurance company products as a comprehensive package.

International course on Advanced Reflective education and Training (ART) on mutual insurance &Micropension

ART, an international course is one of its kind, being offered by The Dhan Academy through ASKMI in collaboration with People Mutuals for the development stakeholders from national & international organizations representing donors, government, insurance companies, NGOs and academics, and research organizations for the past fourteen years. The course focuses on conceptual areas and field practice helping the participants theorizing from the field practices. The course covers the entire gamut of mutual insurance and pension services through discussion and field visits to show the community ownership and impact of the insurance programme on poverty reduction. It also covers the topics of insurance regulation and reinsurance. The programme aims to enrich the conceptualization and contextualization of mutual insurance products and services from varied experiences.

9th Advisory committee meeting of People Mutual

The 9th Advisory Committee meeting of People Mutual was held on 31st January 2020, and Annette Houtkamer is the Chair. The main points discussed in the meeting was how to increase the effectiveness of People Mutuals in providing risk management solutions to the poor communities across DHAN collective in collaboration with the government,corporate agencies, and community-based mutual program

Mutual Crop Risk sharing program

IBISA – Mutual crop Risk sharing program Pilot has been implementing in Kottampatty and Theni regions of Tamil Nadu. Action plan to scale up to reach 300 farmers within March2020, Awareness creation, financial administration, and the Android app to assess the loss and premium were the major agenda.