Helping Communities Manage risks from the ground up.

MIA awarded the first ISO9001: 2008 certification for micro insurance

31 March 2011. New Delhi. The Micro Insurance Academy (MIA) has just been awarded the international quality management standard ISO9001:2008 certification for its provision of training on microinsurance implementation process of a contextualized pro-poor insurance system. MIA is the first organization in the micro insurance sector to receive this international quality management standard relating to microinsurance. This important certification is the result of external and objective audit confirming that the management systems governing MIA’s implementation process conform to the highest international industry standards. With ISO 9001:2008 certification in hand, MIA becomes the recognized leader and standard-bearer of quality management of implementation, based on a participatory concept of rolling out contextualized pro-poor insurance systems.

MIA’s mission is to help communities manage risks from the ground up. MIA has developed a process that enhances the knowledge-strengths of people at the base of the pyramid and develops local capacity to perform technical functions that are needed for smooth operation of community-based health insurance schemes. The training tools MIA developed are an important part of the microinsurance implementation process. The preparation for this certification included the development of an MIA Quality Manual, and elaboration of specific procedures to improve organizational efficiency. MIA also surveyed key stakeholders (Donors, implementation Partners in the field, Trainees, and MIA staff) to obtain inputs how and on which issues it should target improvements in the process.

Now that MIA’s framework has been recognized by the ISO9001:2008 certification, it can be replicated in many places, and reach many more people.

“The certification is a just reward for many months of intense efforts to deliver to poor people the same superior quality management that is available at the top of the pyramid,” said Prof. David Dror, Chairman of MIA. “It is immensely satisfying that not only was MIA recommended, but it passed the audit with zero non-conformities, an excellent, and extremely rare, feat,” added Prof. Dror. He thanked the MIA team both for having excelled in efforts to achieve this important milestone and for having been the first in the micro insurance sector to do so. In fact, ISO certification is an extremely rare achievement in the development sector in general.

MIA’s Quality Management System (QMS) was audited by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), a world-leading risk management and ISO certifying organization headquartered in Norway. The scope of the audit was “Participatory concept and microinsurance implementation process for creating contextualized pro-poor insurance systems”.

The ISO certification of MIA’s implementation Quality Management System was supported by the German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation (DGRV) & MISEREOR. DGRV stated that “as a partner organization of MIA, we are proud that a young provider of technical assistance in the field of mutual insurance systems has been awarded with the ISO certification. This is a proof of quality and we hope that MIA will continue their valuable work in the field of cooperatively organized micro insurance systems.”

The ISO9001:2008 certification follows on the heels of the “Educational Service Provider of the Year 2010” award given to MIA by the Asia Insurance Industry.

The Micro Insurance Academy (MIA) is a project of Sarvajan Unnati Bodhini Charitable Trust. The MIA is a not-for-profit organization fully dedicated to providing structured technical assistance in microinsurance domain-knowledge to organizations that focus on low-income communities.

For further information visit www.microinsuranceacademy.org or contact Devendra Tak at the Micro Insurance Academy on + 91 11 43799100 or devendra@mia.org.in