In the last decade, some insurance associations (IAs) have expanded beyond their traditional core functions to develop insurance consumer education (ICE) programmes. Based on a review of the experiences of IAs in five countries, namely Brazil, Colombia, Kenya, Mexico and South Africa, Microinsurance Paper #31 discusses the steps that should be taken during the preparation of an ICE. These include assigning responsibility internally, defining funding mechanisms, setting clear goals, defining the programme target and identifying partnership opportunities. It goes on to summarize key lessons for

Full publication available here Considering that the microinsurance market in Jamaica is a nascent one, in order to promote its development it is essential to: (i) confront the identified supervisory and regulatory obstacles in order to incentivise providers to offer microinsurance products responsibly; (ii) encourage providers to realise the potential of the microinsurance market to innovate and offer products with value; (iii) promote demand, (iv) but at the same time foster trust by protecting microinsurance consumers and making sure that they will be empowered to use the microinsurance

Jamaica faces a variety of natural hazards and, on a combined-hazard basis, is among the most vulnerable countries in the world . It lies in the center of the Atlantic hurricane belt, on a complex area of the northern Caribbean Plate margin, and is subject to tropical rainfall and erosion processes. Agriculture in Jamaica is vulnerable to various risks ranging from extreme winds, extreme rain and droughts . However, a large part of the agricultural sector, including large integrated supply chains as well as small farmers, is absorbing all the climate risks, without any risk out-transfer

The recent path of Tropical Storm Isaac in September 2012 caused the destruction of plantain fields in the South Region. This situation forced the national authorities to provide in-kind assistance (i.e. planting materials, fertilizers, cleaning labor, land preparation) to the most affected farmers. Although some private insurers provide agriculture insurance, the Ministry of Agriculture does not have a pre-defined budget to tackle the negative effects caused by events in the agricultural sector while it faces significant contingent liabilities in this sector. The Ministry of Agriculture of