by Hans Ramm and Jane Gisin, FP e+i
Vulnerable and poor people fight hard to climb out of poverty. Fonkoze as a Microfinance Institution helps micro- and small entrepreneurs to overcome their cash flow shortages and to foster their economic activities. However, Haiti is very prone to natural disasters that frequently wash away the hard-earned assets, merchandise and houses of the poor. Therefore, Fonkoze developed an asset protection strategy. One idea was to develop a catastrophe insurance product. To do so, this innovative pilot programme had to establish the entire re-insurance structure from scratch. 
Fonkoze pioneered this approach and after only two years, it is possible to say that the insurance has helped people to better deal with shocks like natural disaster and to recover faster. Hence, SDC is now together with Swiss Re, MiCRO and other stakeholders evaluating how the catastrophe insurance product could be replicated in Central America and later in other contexts.
During the market place, we had some interesting questions raised regarding the nature and the contribution of the partners within the Private Public Development Partnership. This intervention would not be possible without the knowledge and expertise of the international re-insurer and national insurer due to the complexity of insurance products.
Furthermore, it is also crucial to finance intelligently different activities. At first, the SDC will provide support for the capitalisation of MiCRO through the local Microfinance Institutions with a strong proven social mission. On the other hand, SDC facilitates capacity building on all levels from financial literacy and DRR to technical assistance to MiCRO. Sustainability is a long-term challenge for such an innovative pilot project but possible. Regarding replication, obviously it is a question of thorough analysis of local risks and cultural acceptation but the international re-insurance sector is very much interested in expanding their services to the BoP strategically and long-term. Therefore, we have strong partners at our side to support us with the necessary technical investigation.
