Helping Communities Manage risks from the ground up.
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Once again we are glad to bring you an update on the work of the Micro Insurance Academy (MIA) in this 5th edition of Micro Insurance Voices, our quarterly newsletter.
Stay in touch with the MIA through Micro Insurance Voices and our website and don't hesitate to write us at mia@mia.org.in. Best regards, The MIA team Niramaya Health Protection Fund launched in Orissa (India)
Thanks to the commitment of our local partner, the Mahashakti Foundation, and the efforts of the MIA team, low-income and vulnerable people now have access to an alternative form of social and financial protection. New interest in the microinsurance scheme is beginning to spread as insured members receive policy documents, information packages, and reimbursement of claims. To contribute to this, an innovative maternal check-up incentive has been introduced in the scheme: each pregnant woman will receive a cash bonus of 500 rupees if she undergoes three prenatal and three postnatal check-ups. From the field: "We received the first claim under the NIRAMAYA Community Health Protection Fund within 2 weeks of the scheme initiation. It was a claim for reimbursement of hospitalization expenses. To settle this claim, a Hospital Discharge Certificate was required as a proof in addition to other documents. The claimant had all other documents such as OPD Card, ward and bed number, test reports and medicine bills, but she did not have the Hospital Discharge Certificate. The doctor had advised the patient for a long-term treatment for full recovery, but due to lack of money the claimant decided to leave the hospital. Fearing that the hospital authority might not allow her to leave, she left the hospital in the middle of the night, unauthorised. After receiving the claim, the Claim Committee met in Tulapada (the beneficiary's village) to discuss the matter and check the genuineness of the case. The Committee decided in favour of the claim in spite of the fact that they did not receive one of the important documents. This reflects the power of CBHI - says MIA trainer Priya Panda. This case would be very difficult to verify for a commercial insurance. Additionally, the claim was settled in a week's time instead of months, which is how long it can take when such representation is accepted by a commercial insurer. The claimant has now been reimbursed and has recovered from her illness." As the scheme progresses, MIA staff will focus on how the process can be improved and how to increase enrollment rates, achieve high levels of retention and maintain client satisfaction. Additionally, we seek to formulate a successful demonstration case study for others to learn from and replicate. The MIA looks forward to future developments of the Nirmaya Community Health Protection Fund project in Odisha, and beyond! Browse through this issue of Micro Insurance Voices to read the interview on the Niramaya Health Protection Fund with Priya Panda, Trainer at the MIA. MIA and Save the Children publish a report on Financial Inclusion Opportunities for Micro Health Insurance in Nepal
The study - Financial Inclusion Opportunities for Micro Health Insurance in Nepal, An Exploratory Analysis of Health Incidence, Costs and Willingness to Pay in Dhading and Banke Districts of Nepal - presents and analyses the data collected in the Banke and Dhading districts of Nepal in early 2009. The study concerns the launch of community-based micro health insurance units for the members of two grassroots microfinance NGO; Nirdhan and DEPROSC. With its 150 pages rich with tables and first-hand data, this is the first published study available on the viability of microinsurance that tackle holistically and in full detail the socioeconomic status of the target population, incidence of illness and health-seeking behavior, the cost of healthcare, and the willingness to pay for health insurance in Nepal. The baseline study and the analysis described in this report have affirmed the need for health insurance and the feasibility of launching community based mutual insurance. The MIA and SC have already secured funding for Phase II of the project, which is focusing on Insurance Education and will be rolling out until the beginning of the summer. The partners are inviting funding for the set up of microinsurance schemes to follow the awareness campaign. To learn more, click here. Visit our Publications page to access the flyer of the Report, the Executive Summar or the full Report. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming editions of Micro Insurance Voices! Interest in microinsurance reaches the Indian North East
The MIA has teamed up with the Meghayala Rural Development Society (MRDS) and the Livelihood Improvement Finance Company of Meghalaya (LIFCOM) to explore the potential for microinsurance in the north eastern state of Meghalaya (India). The MIA has prepared a scoping study to support the formulation of an implementation strategy to extend social protection in the region. The scoping study focuses on the supply and demand of microinsurance in Meghalaya. For this purpose, MIA has recently conducted exploratory field work alongside local research associates. This demand-side study involved focus group discussions with community members, key informant interviews with providers, and site visits with additional stakeholders in five districts within the state. As a part of this larger effort, a desk study is currently underway to create a compilation of existing insurance providers and their policies. It will assess the relevance of insurance products to the area and their perceived effectiveness in the local context. These 'off the shelf' insurance solutions will be compared with both traditional risk management practices and the demand for insurance in the target communities. Ultimately, the MIA will formulate recommendations on how microinsurance can be implemented in Meghalaya in a manner that will address the gaps between supply and demand in the state. The Micro Insurance Academy: spotlight on global advocacy The MIA keeps traveling around the globe to contribute to debates on the scope, nature and future of microinsurance. In the last months... Prof. Dr. David Dror, the MIA's founding Chairman, had the honour of chairing the first day of the MicroInsurance Summit 2010, held in London, 23-25 January. The event gathered more than 70 world experts and practitioners from the sector and offered an occasion for the MIA to stress the need for scoping synergies and sharing complementary expertises in the sector. The MIA also contributed as lead presenter in the microinsurance-related session at the Nepal Microfinance Summit 2010 in Kathmandu, 14-16 February, with Ralf Radermarcher - MIA's Director or Research & Training. The summit attracted several hundred people from the microfinance sector, development agencies and the government. (more info here) Recently, our Director of Operations, Dr. Iddo Dror, held a seminar on 'process and product innovation for the world's poor' on the 1st of March at the Australian Centre for Economic Research on Health at the Australian National University (ACERH - ANU), in Camberra. Click here to download the abstract of the seminar. Update from the MicroInsurance Network: steady progress in Insurance Education and Impact Assessment
Impact Assessment The Impact Working Group was created in an effort to increase the quality and quantity of impact assessments in the microinsurance sector. As part of this unique effort, the Impact Working Group officially launched an interactive website in December 2009, which takes stock of ongoing microinsurance impact assessments worldwide. The Impact Working Group has also secured donors and authors for the Practical Guide project. The project aims to consolidate expert knowledge on global microinsurance impact assessments and to convey this knowledge to non-academic audiences. In addition, after the recent departure of ILO Fellow, Theresa Chen, whose excellent work contributed greatly to the execution of the Impact Working Group, the Microinsurance Network is finalizing the selection of a new Fellow. Up-to-date news on the ILO fellowship and more can be found on the Impact Working Group website, so please visit! Insurance Education As for MiN's Insurance Education Working Group, which seeks to promote microinsurance through the collection, design and distribution of insurance educational materials, analysis has been completed for its report on the “Landscape of Insurance Education". After receiving an overwhelming number of survey responses, the Insurance Education Working Group expanded its report to include over 100 in-depth interviews with global organizations that utilize insurance education in their microinsurance schemes. The Working Group is currently refining the report through an extensive peer-review process. Lastly, the Working Group has started developing a framework for a virtual library that features a multilingual collection of insurance education tools. The virtual endeavor will allow for greater collaboration among microinsurance organizations and will highlight “best practices" being used in the field. Stay tuned at the MIA and MiN websites for more! May we introduce...Priya Panda, Trainer, MIA.
Priya Panda is a post-graduate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, and has earned a Master degree in Business Administration from IGNOU. She has extensive experience in rural development both in India & abroad. She has over 10 years of experience in Programme Management, Monitoring & Evaluation, Documentation, and Training & Capacity Building. She joined MIA as a Training Specialist. Her responsibility includes training module development, delivery of training programmes, reviewing the training programmes and coordinating with partner NGOs. Mrs. Panda has worked extensively on the project in Odisha and has interacted with the communities who are today the members of the NIRAMAYA Community Health Protection Fund. We asked her few questions on the work of MIA and its local partners which made the microinsurance launch in Odisha possible. Can you tell us more about the community atmosphere - are people optimistic towards the development of microinsurance in their community? People are very welcoming and optimistic about Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI). At first, when we introduced the concept of CBHI through various workshops and campaigns to make people understand about how they could benefit from it, only few knew about the basic concept of insurance. Now that the scheme is on and the first claims are being reimbursed, more and more people are showing interest to enroll to the scheme. What has been the most effective tool for introducing microinsurance in these communities? We used several tools such as village meetings, household visits, group meetings, informal chatting, street theater, posters and wall paintings. We had a multi-pronged strategy within which each approach had its own relevance. In the impact assessment of the awareness campaign, I found that the group meetings were the most effective channel of dissemination. In small groups, people tend to ask questions and clarify doubts. Using the Treasure Pot game in group meetings has been very effective. The Treasure Pot game first highlights the problems arising in the absence of health insurance and then demonstrates the benefits health insurance offers to people. The game also shows how the community can manage the fund and make decisions...together. What has been the greatest challenge in launching the microinsurance schemes in Odisha? Challenges were many. Our target group was women who are mostly illiterate. Therefore we had to think of appropriate Information, Education & Communication (IEC) materials which can best explain the concept of CBHI. Women Facilitators were selected from the community for the Awareness campaign. During our campaign we found that women typically have daily chores intermittently spread over entire day. Therefore, our plans for timings had to change to commensurate with their span of attention. |
Hard work and dedication of the women's cooperative Bijaynee with support of the Mahashakti Foundation and the MIA in the Kalahandi district of Odisha (Orissa) - one of the most difficult areas of the state - has translated into the successful launch of a new health protection scheme under the MIA's structured technical assistance model. The scheme officially began on 15 February 2010, and saw 350 households (1397 members) enroll in the pilot phase of this community-based health insurance initiative.
