Announcements:
Invitation for the 7th Seminar on Risk, Security and Responsibility
The Centre for Risk and Insurance Research, BI Norwegian School of Management (www.bi.no/en) which is funded by Research Council of Norway, under its Research Program on Societal Security and Risk (SAMRISK) is co-hosting the 7th Seminar on risk, security and responsibility in close cooperation with the Micro Insurance Academy (www.microinsuranceacademy.org). The seminar is scheduled between 12th to 13th April, 2011, at the BI Norwegian School of Management, Campus Nydalen, Oslo. Colleagues working in research and development in the field of microinsurance are invited to present their progress.
ILO and MIA to host Technical Meeting on "Insurance for the poor: the role of community-based microinsurance for an inclusive financial system"
The International Labour Organization (ILO) and MIA, supported by the Deutsche Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband e.V. (DGRV), will co-host a technical meeting on "Insurance for the poor: the role of community-based microinsurance for an inclusive financial system" on 8th and 9th March, 2011 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The workshop will have delegates comprising regulators from the Indian sub-continent, grassroots organizations, academia experts, multilateral development agencies and technical contributors. Presentation topics will range from Regulation and Supervision of Mutuals, Cooperatives and Community-based Organizations; Building Trust through Education; to Measuring the Impact of Community-based Microinsurance.
News from Partners:
The Microinsurance Network
The Performance Indicators Working Group of the Microinsurance Network hosted 15 participants from Africa, Asia and Latin America to participate in a workshop on identifying social indicators in microinsurance. With the support of Appui au Développement Autonome (ADA) and Belgian Raiffeisen Foundation (BRS), the two and a half day event in Luxembourg combined the practical knowledge and experience of the participants in microinsurance with the already established social indicators in microfinance. The participants, who came from a range of organizations including MFIs, cooperatives, mutuals, commercial insurance companies and networks, identified the indicators through a series of exercises that facilitated exchange of views and experiences. The workshop outcome was presented during the 6th International Microinsurance Conference in Manila.
For more information visit: The Micro Insurance Network
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In this edition of Micro Insurance Voices we bring updates on…
Editorial
Warm wishes from all of us at MIA, for a very successful 2011.
 During the last quarter of 2010 our insurance campaigns gained true momentum and most of our projects that were “in the pipeline” for launch reached a mature stage. MIA colleagues have been busy working in the field with partners in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to customize benefit packages and increase enrolment with MIA’s unique education tools to tailor context-specific insurance. In Nepal, the awareness campaign unfolded in full swing, and the Niramaya project in Kalahandi (Orissa) neared the renewal season for existing members, with a second round of enrollment for new members.
MIA's insurance awareness film named “Sab Tujhse Hai,” (Hindi for “Everything depends on you”) originally shot in Hindi, has now been dubbed in Oriya and Nepali. In addition to enthusiastic reactions among villagers that have seen the film, it has helped MIA gain international recognition as an innovator in insurance education activities – notably from the Asian Insurance Industry, which bestowed on MIA its prestigious “Educational Service Provider of the Year Award” for 2010!
After having gained field experience of over three years in India, MIA is now receiving demand for our knowledge, tools and services from many other countries. In order to enhance our institutional ability to respond positively, it is necessary to create a new entity, provisionally called “MIA International” which will be domiciled outside India and should simplify our work all over the world and make it more efficient. MIA International is designed to be registered as a non-profit member-based organization, whose members will be entities that share its passion to develop global microinsurance capacity. We should be able to provide another update on this in the next edition of Micro Insurance Voices. In the meantime, organizations are welcome to send us expressions of interest in becoming members.
MIA also reaffirms our commitment to pursue our planned handover of key managerial positions from expatriates to local talent. Thus, in this issue of Voices, we have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Ashutosh Kaushik who joined MIA as Deputy Director of Administration, to take over many of the tasks formerly overseen by Dr. Iddo Dror (previous Director of Operations). Iddo, who has been pivotal in the launch and growth of MIA, will remain involved as an Advisor to Senior Management and dedicate more of his time to teaching, and to the initiation of special projects such as MIA International. He has also launched another organization (Talamela Retail) which will focus on high-end retail in India. We take this opportunity to thank Iddo for all his pioneering work and dedication to MIA in particular, and to the microinsurance sector generally over the past four years, and wish him success and satisfaction in his new activities.
MIA wins the "Educational Service Provider of the Year" Award for 2010
 In the 14th ceremony of the Asia Insurance Industry Awards, MIA was honored with the “Educational Service Provider of the Year 2010” by the Asia Insurance Industry during their annual awards ceremony, held this year in Bali, Indonesia.
MIA's innovative training methods, customized to the need of low-income groups won huge admiration and applause from our peers and the panel of judges. "… MIA’s presence has extended to the poorest states in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Fiji, Cambodia and Tanzania. Its activities have positioned the Academy as the front-runner in microinsurance education…” The judges also noted that "the low-income group presents the toughest challenge for insurance education because they can flag their poverty as a reason to reject insurance. The MIA has risen to this challenge by developing, testing and delivering - usually free of charge to trainees - a broad range of innovative, multilingual, audio-visual education messages, bridging the literacy and numeracy gap of the target population."
MIA was one of the 14 awardees across different categories out of more than 540 nominations. Last year, Prof. Dr. David Dror, the Chairman of MIA, received the “Personality of the Year” Award for his “groundbreaking research and study that has helped boost understanding of how the world’s poorest communities can benefit from microinsurance.”
News from the field:
Two workshops launched in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh: Facilitators awareness training and benefit package workshop
During the past quarter MIA carried out the facilitators’ training workshop and benefit package finalization workshop in three locations (as part of the EU-FP7 funded CBHI project). Our colleagues conducted the workshops with our partners at BAIF in Allahabad, Shramik Bharti in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Nidan in Patna (Bihar) during the month of October 2010.
52 participants comprising field supervisors, facilitators and block coordinators attended these workshops. During these activities, facilitators were oriented on various awareness tools and messages carefully designed to provide a good fit with the needs and priorities of the community. The learnings from these sessions will now be disseminated in the community in the form of awareness sessions. Our partner, Shramik Bharti has even adopted community radio as an innovative tool to promote awareness of microinsurance in the villages.
The benefit package workshop was also conducted during this stage. Representatives of the community, who had acted as facilitators, selected the benefit options that should be retained. In the Nidan project, the team had to modify MIA’s CHAT tool (Choosing Health-plans All Together) to include in the package, for the first time, a life insurance component along with health. Incorporating both options with different alternatives and corresponding premiums for various household sizes was indeed challenging.
The next phase for these three projects will be the training of persons responsible for implementation and management of the CBMI (Community-based Micro Insurance) project. We call them “the ground structures of insurance”, and they include insurance activists, co-coordinators, claim and co-ordination committee members and an ombudsman.
Awareness campaign rolled out at the community level in Banke and Dhading districts of Nepal
 Awareness campaigns on CBHI (Community-based Health Insurance) were conducted in four "Village Development Committees" (VDCs) in Banke district and in nine VDCs in Dhading district of Nepal. 126 Self-Reliant Group (SRG) members participated in the awareness campaign. A particularly interesting aspect was that 40 SRG members from Dhading, who had undergone the awareness training workshop in the previous stage, were instrumental in imparting CBHI knowledge to their village peers! An array of tools ranging from discussions, informal talks, CHAT and stick exercises (cohesion games), songs, street plays, posters, stickers, wall paintings, movies and insurance education clips were used through a series of sessions in the community.
Niramaya project in Kalahandi, Orissa completes Village Insurance Volunteers training
In Orissa, MIA’s inaugural “live” insurance location, 52 Village Insurance Volunteers (VIVs) and 2 Field Officers attended a two day workshop at the partner’s location. These volunteers were trained on insurance education and on project Niramaya. They are the first line of informants in the community, who are playing a catalytic role in creating insurance awareness and pursuing enrollment of policy holders. They have a strategic advantage in spreading insurance education because of the proximity they share with the community. The VIVs are conducting insurance awareness through one-on-one meetings, group discussions and meeting key informants in the community. Preparations for the second phase of enrollment are going on and 59 claims have been settled to date.
Stories from the field: Niramaya makes a difference for its members
 To a poor person in India, illness and disease means diverting the flow of income and re-prioritizing basic needs. It means seeking financial assistance from the local moneylender at very high interest rates or selling productive assets. Further, a financial crisis can lead to delaying health care treatments, sometimes causing clinical complications or even death.
Two policy holders from Orissa share their experiences...
Laxmi, a mother of two children, lives in Hatikhoj village in the remote Kalahandi district of Orissa. Her husband works on someone else’s land holding to sustain their living. After much convincing from her peers, she mustered the courage to enroll her family into the Niramaya microinsurance scheme. In the beginning, she was skeptical whether it was a worthwhile investment.
Recently, Laxmi suffered from malaria, a very common illness in the region, with increased incidences experienced during the monsoon season. To receive treatment she had to be hospitalized for two days at a cost of Rs 5386/-. The claims committee reimbursed Rs 2076/-, after careful verification of the hospital bills that matched with the insurance policy. Now Laxmi feels proud of her decision to become a Niramaya member. Furthermore, her husband, who lost work-days to accompany her to the hospital said, “Even though I lost three days of work, I was not helpless in this difficult situation.”
Samanta Bhoi's son, of Baphla village, was hospitalized for three days due to malaria. She submitted health care bills amounting to Rs 3957/-. The claims committee carefully scrutinized the bills and decided to reimburse Samanta Rs 3700/- (which also included her transportation bill of Rs 200/-).
Samanta shares her experience: “I request all our villagers to participate in Niramaya. My son was sick and I had to mortgage all my ornaments to pay the cost of hospitalization but I really couldn’t believe that Niramaya paid me all the money. Now I am relaxed and I have no fear to any health risk. “
“Sab Tujhse Hai” is now dubbed in Nepali and Oriya, and has been selected for projection in the movie series at the Global Risk Forum, Davos
 MIA's movie “Sab Tujhse Hai” has been dubbed in Nepali and Oriya. The film (shot in Hindi, on location mainly in villages where MIA works in Kanpur Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh state with some scenes in Delhi) is characterized by authentic, contemporary visuals of village life today. The images, symbols, associations and plot have met with much success when the pilot projections took place in rural locations. Additionally, the songs composed especially for this film, some of which have “insurance education” messages, have been compiled into an album that is also dubbed into Nepali and Oriya. There are 31 million Oriya speakers, plus about half of Nepal’s population of 28 million speaks Nepali.
As this issue goes to press, we received confirmation that the original version (in Hindi, with English subtitles) will be projected at the Global Risk Forum (GRF Davos, Switzerland) Movie Series: “Globalization- A blessing or a curse?”, along with 3 other extraordinary movies, with subsequent panel discussion. Our film will be projected on 29 January 2011. GRV Davos an official “side event” takes place at the same time as the World Economic Forum. Thus all those participating in that important international gathering will be invited to see the Movie Series as well. (http://www.grforum.org/).
Click here to see the trailer of the movie!
MIA conducts scoping studies on the feasibility of microinsurance with Save the Children in Rajasthan and Nepal
In the context of Save the Children’s Child Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) program, MIA was commissioned to perform two scoping studies in India and Nepal.
The scoping study for India was conducted with Save the Children’s local partner; People's Education and Development Organization (PEDO), in the Dungarpur district of Rajasthan. The objective was to study the feasibility of microinsurance as a financial risk management option to overcome future shocks caused by unforeseen calamities resulting in malnutrition amongst children, removal of children from school and forcing children towards early labour. The study’s methodology was a mix of desk work and field visits. The qualitative findings from this study indicate that microinsurance is a viable option for improving risk management within the tribal communities. Save the Children has considered the recommendations given by MIA, and now MIA will provide technical and advisory support for the implementation of a community-based microinsurance scheme with PEDO. The baseline study has already been initiated. In this study MIA will access 500 households and the most frequented health providers in the district.
In response to the positive performance of MIA in Rajasthan, Save the Children has commissioned MIA to conduct a modified study examining in more detail the shocks that affect poor households in the Sindhupalchowk district of Nepal. Looking specifically at three villages with three culturally different communities, MIA’s team performed a risk mapping exercise within the Dalit, Tamang and Pahari communities to establish how they cope with financial hardship. Additionally, the MIA experts met with key informants active in the social protection sector; from local and international NGOs, United Nations bodies, government ministries and commercial insurers, to scope what they do and learn from their experience on difficulties that impede results. MIA’s team put together a status report on the major financial risks faced by the families, along with a set of recommendations that should help Save the Children to strengthen their social protection activities aiming to reduce child labor and labor migration that are often directly linked to financial shocks faced by poor families and their children in Nepal.
May we introduce… Mr. Ashutosh Kaushik, Deputy Director of Administration
Effective from October 2010, Dr. Iddo Dror exited from the position of Director of Operations and Mr. Ashutosh Kaushik was nominated Deputy Director of Administration, as part of MIA's succession planning for activities in India. MIA is in the process of setting up MIA International, and part of this process involves handing over responsibility and senior management positions in India from expatriates to local talent. Iddo will continue his affiliation with MIA as an Advisor to Senior Management and as a member of the team establishing MIA international. We take this opportunity to thank Iddo for all his pioneering work and dedication to the organization and the microinsurance sector over the past four years. We wish him much success in his activities in the future.
In this issue, we have the pleasure to introduce Mr. Ashutosh Kaushik our new Deputy Director of Administration, who is responsible for Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Administration at MIA India.
Q1. Welcome to MIA Ashutosh! Tell us about your previous experience working with the Corporate and NGO sectors.
I have more than 13 years of experience in the field of Administration and Finance. I have worked in different industries starting from manufacturing to retail to BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). For the last few years, I have specialized in Administration and Finance within the development sector. Before joining MIA, I was involved in general management, accounts and administration, budgeting, MIS (Management Information Systems), financial reviews, auditing, managing contracts and grants, design and implementation of internal control systems, procurement, fraud management, and investigation in a large international, multi-donor NGO establishment.
Q2. What motivated you to join to MIA?
My preference has always been to work with a value-driven organization and after my interaction with Prof. David Dror, I was convinced that MIA is a place which is not only value-driven but also a place of learning new things. To be very frank when I get ready for the office in the morning, I never think as if I am getting ready for work, instead, I get charged-up every day when I am going to the Academy – which to me is a place of learning by doing. MIA being a young and fast-growing organization keeps all of their staff on the fast track in today’s ever changing environment. Being quick to respond to new opportunities is crucial in achieving the organizational goals especially in the first few years of operation.
Q3. What are your future visions for MIA?
In my role, I plan to help MIA to become an organization which is driven by policy, procedures and systems rather than being person driven. I strongly believe that the smooth operation of the organization depends on the development of clear cut effective policies and procedures that both reflect the management’s vision and allow employees to practice them successfully.
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