BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Thursday, November 10, 2011 ? A grant agreement supporting catastrophe microinsurance programmes in Haiti was signed into effect recently to give more security to lending institutions and their low-income borrowers in that disaster-prone country.
The grant was signed at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) last week between Nicholas Crichlow, corporate secretary for the Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation SCC (MiCRO) and the CDB?s acting Vice-President (Operations) Tessa Williams-Robertson.
MiCRO is an innovative platform that provides customised reinsurance coverage to help protect lending institutions and their low-income borrowers against losses resulting from natural disasters. The grant agreement provides claims-paying capacity to MiCRO for its Haiti programme via a multi-donor trust fund administered by the CDB and inaugurated in late-September 2011 following an initial contribution of US$1.5 million by DFID.
The 2010 earthquake and the preceding hurricanes of 2008 had a devastating effect on micro-entrepreneurs in Haiti, who suffered lost assets, suppliers and markets. The microfinance sector, which provides micro-loans to stimulate and sustain many of these businesses, also experienced extensive financial losses, hindering recovery at both the individual and institutional level. MiCRO was developed with the aim of helping individual microfinance clients protect themselves and their livelihoods against such impacts. MiCRO currently reinsures almost 60,000 micro-entrepreneurs in Haiti via Fonkoze, the country?s leading microfinance institution, and is to be expanded within the Caribbean region and beyond. Since programme inception early in 2011, over 4,000 Fonkoze clients have received about US$1.3 million following a number of severe rainfall events in Haiti.
Dr. Warren Smith said in his opening remarks that the CDB ?is very happy to be associated with this venture, since it represents a very good example of innovation in arriving at solutions to the challenges which confront micro-business and solutions to risk.? Dr. Smith added that it was particularly significant that the focus of the exercise is Haiti where there is a proliferation of micro-enterprises which he stated were ?a dynamic force for the future of the country?.
Dr. Simon Young, responding on behalf of MiCRO, thanked DFID and CDB for their support, stating that ?Public-private partnerships such as MiCRO serve as an excellent example of how innovative solutions can be developed and implemented to help protect the livelihoods of those most severely impacted by natural catastrophes.? He added that ?MiCRO has developed a product which we believe fills a gap in the risk management toolkit, with global application particularly in addressing growing catastrophe risk in the developing world due to urbanisation and climate change.?
MiCRO?s strategic founding partners include Mercy Corps, a global NGO; Fonkoze; CaribRM; Swiss Re, a leading global reinsurer; and GC Micro Risk SolutionsSM, a specialist division of global reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Company. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation will be contributing additional resources to the trust fund in the coming weeks. Click here?to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)
Source: http://www.caribbean360.com/business/516076.html
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