Since 2011, ILRI and its partners in the public, private and non-profit sectors have pursued a comprehensive research agenda aimed at designing, developing and implementing market mediated index-based insurance to protect livestock keepers from drought related asset losses, particularly those in the drought prone Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs).
We have partnered with Oromia Insurance in Borana, APA insurance in Marasabit and Isiolo, and Takaful Insurance in Wajir. In Isiolo, World Vision International will be responsible (with our technical and capacity backstopping) for supporting APA Insurance with extension, marketing and delivery of sales.
Novel drought insurance programs for Kenya’s many dryland livestock herders are offering these pastoral women as well as men some relief. This is particularly important as climate change is putting Africa’s pastoral livestock systems at increasing risk of drought. Continue reading
Voice of resilience: Kenyan radio builds herders’ trust in drought insurance. Continue reading
Rupsha Banerjee argues that the current revolution in information access offers opportunities to transform and extend opportunities for women pastoralists in East Africa Continue reading
The Government of Kenya, through the State Department of Livestock has announced a payout of Ksh87 million for pastoralists insured under the Kenya Livestock Insurance Program Continue reading
Rupsha Banerjee, Eric Mwaura and Sabdiyo Dido ask why women pastoralists in East Africa – who are not usually significant livestock owners – are major customers for IBLI’s livestock insurance product. Continue reading
ILRI researchers are working with data monitors drawn from county departments of livestock and partner agencies like Kenya Livestock Marketing Council (KLMC) to consolidate and digitize livestock data from the arid and semi-arid regions. Continue reading
A game known as ‘SIMPASTORALIST’, an abbreviation for the phrase ‘simulating pastoralist’ is being used to collect data on the decision-making process within pastoralist households. This information will inform future designs of interventions such as the index-based livestock insurance. Continue reading
Policymakers, development actors and representatives of government and the private sector met on 10 July 2018 in Ethiopia for a policy dialogue that delivered a clear roadmap for the scale of index-based livestock insurance in the country. Continue reading
“Developing the insurance product was the easy part. The tweaking, monitoring, and adapting – that has been much more complicated.” This, in essence, was what Cornell development economist Christopher Barrett informed us as we began discussing our upcoming Kenya research trip with him. He was right. Since the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) formulated Index-Based … Continue reading
Governments across Africa are looking to protect pastoralists from the impacts of extreme weather with livestock insurance programs. But what works? Continue reading
Index-Based Livestock Insurance 