Agenda

Welcome to the InsuResilience Annual Forum

• Dr Astrid Zwick, Head of the InsuResilience Secretariat
• Ms Chikondi Chabvuta, Advocacy and Partnerships Coordinator for Southern Africa, CARE International

• Dr Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany
• H.E. Alfred Alfred Jr., Former Minister of Finance, Banking and Postal Services Republic of the Marshall Islands

Voices from the Partnership: the perspective of youth and a new donor country

• Ms Samantha Power, Administrator, USAID
• Ms Ineza Grace, Co-founder of the Youth Loss and Damage Network

This Launch Announcement aims to make the community aware of the Strategic Evidence Roadmap for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI), to share the vision and goals of the Evidence Roadmap, and to inform participants of the importance of evidence in building a strong case for and strengthening the impact of CDRFI.

Organising partner: Munich Climate Insurance Initiative

• Dr Xiaomeng Shen, Vice-Rector in Europe and Director of the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security

Professor Abhijit Banerjee, is a co-recipient of the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics for his ground breaking work in development economics research. During this conversation between Professor Banerjee and Ekhosuehi Iyahen, they will discuss the state of the world in view of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the demonstrated weaknesses in how crises are managed. The discussion will focus on ways to strengthen systems to ensure that those who are most vulnerable are not left behind, and particularly in view of the climate crisis. This will also include a discussion on the convergence with the objectives of the InsuResilience Global Partnership and the use of evidence to shape policy.

Organising partner: Insurance Development Forum

Moderator: Ms Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary General, Insurance Development Forum

Speaker:

• Dr Abhijit Banerjee, Professor of Economics M.I.T. and 2019 Economics Nobel Prize winner

Responding to the need for more affordable and sustainable risk finance and insurance solutions, the InsuResilience High-Level Consultative Group has prioritised work on a set of principles for Premium and Capital Support as effective ways to tackle such challenges. This session discusses the set of Principles the InsuResilience Global Partnership has formulated. It will outline the current status and challenges with Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI), highlight ways forward to meet needs, scale up, and ensure the sustainability of CDRFI to support enhancing resilience, and provide perspectives on the implementation of the principles in the years to come.

Moderator: Ms Sophie Evans, Head of Country Programs, Centre for Disaster Protection

Speakers:

• Mr Ibrahima Diong, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director-General, African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group
• Dr Olivier Mahul, Global Lead and Program Manager, Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Program, World Bank and GFDRR, Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation
• Mr Aholotu Palu, CEO, Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company
• Mr Eric Rwigamba, Director General of the Financial Sector Development, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda

Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) solutions in developing countries can protect sovereigns and their citizens from the impacts of disasters and help build up their resilience. Yet take up is still limited and their use needs to be scaled up. In this session we will hear a sovereigns’ perspectives on the use of CDRFI solutions and hear from public sector and insurance industry leaders from their experience in looking to scale up use of these tools.

Organising partner: Insurance Development Forum & AXA XL

Moderator: Ms Claudia Thyme, Director Strategic Market Development, AXA XL, a division of AXA / Industry Deputy Chair, Sovereign & Humanitarian Solutions WG, Insurance Development Forum

Speakers:

• Ms Annette Detken, Head of InsuResilience Solutions Fund Management, Climate Risk Analysis Lead, InsuResilience Solutions Fund
• Mr Denis Duverne, Chairman, AXA and Insurance Development Forum
• Mr Héctor Santana Suárez, Head of Insurance, Pensions and Social Security Unit, Ministry of Finance, Mexico

An Interactive Game Session: Turning Tables – seeing the challenges through the other perspective organised by Pablo Suarez and GoodGames Ltd.

Ownership and engagement have been respectively highlighted by the InsuResilience 5 pro-poor principles and the Centre for Disaster Protection 7 habits for highly effective disaster risk financing. Ownership ensures the use of demand-driven approaches through environments that are conducive to stakeholder action, with a focus on the agency of end users. Through engagement, disaster risk financing places power in the hands of at-risk people and communities, giving them a choice over how they manage their risks. In this session, we will hear lessons learned from 5 leaders with decades of experience in climate and disaster risk finance, all based in Africa. We will explore how their work has unlocked value through working from the grassroots in the creation of solutions that link to existing structures, are empowering, and promote transparency and accountability.

Organising partner: Genesis Analytics

Moderator: Ms Marcela Tarazona, Head of Climate Finance and Economics, Genesis Analytics

Speakers:

• Mr Malvern Chirume, Chief Underwriting Officer, African Risk Capacity Limited
• Ms Delphine Traoré, Regional Chief Operating Officer, Allianz Africa
• Mr Cecil Nartey, Principle Agricultural Economist, ADRFI
• Mr Andrew Mude, Lead AgriSME Development and Financing, African Development Bank
• Mr Eric Rwigamba, Director General of the Financial Sector Development, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Rwanda

Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) is one of the regions most exposed and vulnerable to the effects of climate and weather-related events. To overcome this challenge, the LAC region needs innovative climate and disaster risk financing solutions and insurance mechanisms. In this session, we will learn more about how the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the Interamerican Development Bank (IADB) and MiCRO, have launched specific risk finance approaches, and how they have been implemented on the ground. Countries in LAC offer interesting opportunities to move insurance beyond pilot initiatives towards sustainable and scalable programmes, and a real pathway to that is with public-private partnerships.

Organising partner: World Food Programme

Moderator: Ms Paula Pagniez, Director, America’s Practice Lead, Climate and Resilience Hub, Willis Towers Watson

Speakers:

• Mr Juan Jose Durante, Head of the Risk Financing and Insurance, Inter-American Development Bank
• Ms Kathryn Milliken, Policy and Programme Advisor on Climate Change, World Food Program
• Mr Carlos Boelsterli, CEO Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation – SCC (MiCRO)

After an informative and inspiring day, join one of our breakout rooms and discuss further some of the topics covered. Reconnect with old friends and colleagues or establish new connections. This time is for you to strengthen your network and drive forward Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance solutions together.

This year, at the Annual Forum, a popular session that kick-started in 2019 will be brought back, providing a platform to facilitate a dialogue between leaders of four sovereign risk pools. Leaders of the African Risk Capacity (ARC), Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), and South-east Asian Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) will reflect on the successes and challenges they face, with a special look at the lessons learnt from the COVID 19 pandemic. This session will take a forward look, asking what next for the risk pools and what is needed for a strengthened global risk financing architecture which promotes greater resilience building impact.

Moderator: Ms Tuga Alaskary, Advisor, InsuResilience Secretariat

Speakers:

• Mr Lesley Ndlovu, CEO, African Risk Capacity Limited
• Mr Aholotu Palu, CEO, Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company
• Mr Isaac Anthony, CEO, The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility
• Mr Gary Rynsard, Executive Director and Board Member, Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility

The panel discussion will explore insights from the implementation of three initiatives from the Asia-Pacific region, highlighting their achievements, openly discussing their challenges, and sharing insights on their lessons learnt. Implemented in Viet Nam, Fiji, Nepal, all projects have ambitions to scale into additional countries of the region. The three panelists represent organizations and projects that have expertise and implementation on climate risk modelling, the use of digital tools in insurance distribution, and the structuring of insurance solutions at both micro and meso levels.

Organising partner: Asian Development Bank

Moderator: Mr Josh Ling, Fund Manager: Asia-Pacific Climate Finance Fund, ADB

Speakers:

• Mr Bikram Rana, Project Manager – Flood Resilience Programme, Practical Action Nepal
• Ms Angelica Barlis, Project Manager – DeRISK Southeast Asia, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
• Mr Krishnan Narasimhan, Lead Specialist (Insurance and Climate Adaptation) Programme Manager, Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme

Once again, join one of our breakout rooms and discuss further some of the topics covered. Reconnect with old friends and colleagues or establish new connections. This time is for you to strengthen your network and drive forward Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance solutions together.

Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction, and head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Ms Mami Mizutori will open Day 2 of the InsuResilience Annual Forum 2021 with a motivating keynote speech.

• Ms Monika Jones, MC
• Ms Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Head of UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction UNDRR

Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) approaches can address climate-related threats to our food systems, minimize adverse impacts, and build physical and financial resilience for smallholder farmers. This session will comprise a structured discussion into how climate change is impacting the lives and livelihoods of small farmers, opportunities for insurance and risk management at micro- and meso- levels, and actions needed to scale up CDRFI solutions in agriculture.

Organising partner: Munich Re Foundation and the Microinsurance Network

Moderator: Ms Katharine Pulvermacher, Executive Director, Microinsurance Network

Speakers:

• Ms Olga Speckhardt, Head of Global Insurance Solutions, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture
• Ms Ingrid Hoven, Managing Director, GIZ
• Mr Lorenzo Chan, President and CEO, Pioneer Inc
• Ms Maria Teresa Zappia, Chief Impact & Blended Finance Officer, Deputy CEO, Blue Orchard

Our Master of Ceremony will introduce all of our breakout sessions:

• Breakout session 1: Digitalisation and InsurTech
• Breakout session 2: Scaling private sector engagement: New opportunities to grow private investment in climate risk insurance
• Breakout session 3: Monitoring and evaluating impact
• Breakout session 4: Acting ahead of crises with risk financing
• Break out session 5: Stories of change – inspiring gender-smart action for resilience
• Break out session 6: Accelerating nature based solutions for risk reduction and climate adaptation: the relevance of insurance for nature, and nature for insurance
• Breakout session 7 : Tackling heat stress with Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance
• Breakout session 8: Accelerating Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance solutions through national adaptation planning

For more information on the breakout session, please click on the agenda point below.

Breakout session 1: Digitalisation and InsurTech (Parallel Session)

Technology and digitalization will transform the insurance industry. The session will illustrate where their adoption along the insurance value chain could remove barriers to the sustainability and scaling-up of climate risk insurance schemes for poor and vulnerable populations. Using implementation examples, the audience will learn about the opportunities, challenges, successes, and pitfalls of adopting digitization and new technologies.

Organising partner: GIZ

Moderator: Dr Nihar Jangle, Advisor, Climate Risk Insurance, GIZ

Speakers:

• Ms Annette Detken, Head of InsuResilience Solutions Fund Management, Climate Risk Analysis Lead, InsuResilience Solutions Fund
• Ms Rebecca Hausberger, Advisor, Financial Systems Development and Insurance, GIZ
• Ms Ranmalee Gamage, Advisor, SME Sector Development Programme Sri Lanka, GIZ
• Mr Amos Tabalia, Head of Research and Development, Agriculture and Climate Risk Enterprise Limited
• Mr Swetan Sagar, Head, Advocacy and Development at Microfinance Institutions Network
• Mr Panuel Rozario, Project Manager, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Bangladesh

Breakout session 2: Scaling private sector engagement: New opportunities to grow private investment in climate risk insurance (Parallel Session)

Increasing private investment is crucial for achieving Vision 2025, allowing us to move from political ambition to effective implementation. This session will explore the role of private investment, consider how it can be accelerated in low-income countries, and explain the benefits for the private sector of using climate insurance solutions. There will be an interactive mix of presentations and discussion, with a panel of speakers reflecting opportunities for private actors with the InsuResilience Investment Fund (IIF) as well as the Natural Disaster Fund (NDF), as investors, investees, risk carriers and protection buyers.

Organising partner: KfW

Moderator: Ms Barbara Schnell, Director Sector Policy, KfW

Speakers:

• Mr Felix Hermes, Head of Private Equity & Sustainable Infrastructure, Blue Orchard
• Mr Henning Ludolphs, Managing Director, Hannover Re
• Mr Hector Ibarra, Chief Executive Officer, Global Parametrics
• Ms Eleonora Castaldo, Regional Manager, Enabling Qapital AG

Breakout Session 3: Monitoring and evaluating impact (Parallel Session)

The Impact Working Group contributes to the understanding of the development and human impact of risk finance and insurance solutions implemented under the InsuResilience Global Partnership. This session aims to make the Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) community aware of the technical contents of the Strategic Evidence Roadmap for CDRFI, its importance for building an evidence-based future with effective CDRFI solutions, and to highlight evidence action or investment commitments made by InsuResilience Global Partnership members and others in the community.

Organising partner: Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII)

Moderator: Dr Jennifer Denno Cissé, Research Manager, MCII

Speakers:

• Dr Marcela Tarazona, Head of Climate Finance and Economics, Genesis Analytics
• Ms Tara Chiu, Associate Director, MRR Innovation Lab UC Davis
• Ms Lena Weingärtner, Research Associate, Global Risks and Resilience
• Ms Katherine Miles, Consultant
• Mr Florian Waldschmidt, Project Associate, MCII
• Mr Soenke Kreft, Executive Director, Academic Officer, MCII
• Ms Vositha Wijenayake, Executive Director, SLYCAN Trust

Breakout Session 4: Acting ahead of crises with risk financing (Parallel Session)

Technological progress makes it possible to predict with increasing accuracy, when and where a disaster might occur. This creates critical opportunities to save lives and livelihoods through anticipatory action. Anticipatory action is a set of actions taken to prevent or mitigate potential disaster impacts before a shock or before acute impacts are felt. They contribute to reducing humanitarian needs and protect development gains. Despite the global momentum around anticipatory action, anticipatory action approaches are still limited in scale and reach. The session will introduce the newly formed sectoral community “Linking risk financing and anticipatory action” and explore opportunities where and how development actors, governments, the private sector and humanitarians can work together to scale up anticipatory action with a focus on the Philippines.

Organising partner: Anticipation Hub

Moderator: Ms Irene Amuron, Program Manager, Anticipatory Action at the Red Cross Red Cresent

Speakers:

• Mr Madhab Uprety, Asia-Pacific Regional Lead & Technical Advisor, Red Cross Red Cresent Climate Centre
• Mr Ben Webster, Head of Secretariat, Risk-informed Early Action Partnership, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• Ms Maria Ruzzella Quilla, Project Development and Coordination Specialist, Food and Agirculture Organisation
• Mr Toby Behrmann, Partnerships & Innovation at Global Parametrics
• Mr Joseph Randy M. Loy, PG Department Head, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office in Davao de Oro Province, Republic of the Philippines

Breakout session 5: Stories of change – inspiring gender-smart action for resilience

Building on the successful soft launch of the Centre of Excellence on Gender-smart Solutions (CoE) in 2020 and leading up to its full launch at COP26, the Gender & Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) session in the InsuResilience Annual Forum 2021 will feature “stories of change” related to gender and CDRFI. By reflecting on concrete case studies, panelists will stimulate an interactive discussion on why a gender-smart approach to CDRFI is important, what is needed to drive forward a sector wide transformation and how to become an agent for change.

Moderator: Mr Sven Harmeling, Global Policy Lead Climate Change and Resilience, CARE International

Speakers:

• Ms Akosita Drova, Extended Term Consultant, World Bank Fiji Country Office
• Ms Sarah Favrichon, Technical Advisor GIZ
• Ms Sumaiya Kabir, Consortium Coordinator, CARE Bangladesh

Break out session 6: Accelerating nature based solutions for risk reduction and climate adaptation: the relevance of insurance for nature, and nature for insurance

Emerging research demonstrates the role of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as an efficient tool in supporting ecosystem functions, avoiding damage and reducing risk exposure to the effects of climate change. This session will explore the opportunities and challenges of incorporating NbS for accelerating Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance by focusing on specific examples and perspectives of multiple sectors.

Organising partner: The Nature Conservancy

Moderator: Mr Mark Way, Global Climate Adaptation Director (interim), The Nature Conservancy & Ms Marcia Toledo, Director Public Institutions Europe, The Nature Conservancy

Speakers:

• Ms Constance Wong, Associate, Climate and Resilience Hub, Willis Towers Watson
• Mr Chip Cunliffe, Biodiversity Director, AXA XL
• Ms Noelle O’Brien, Principal Climate Change Specialist, Pacific Asia Regional Department, Asian Development Bank
• Mr Martin Weymann, Head Sustainability, Emerging & Political Risk Management, Swiss Re
• Dr. Zita Sebesvari, Deputy Director of UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and head of UNU-EHS academic section Environmental Vulnerability and Ecosystem Services (EVES)

Breakout session 7: Tackling heat stress with Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance

This session will explore how governments, institutions, and policymakers can address one of the most dangerous yet least acknowledged natural disasters – extreme heat. The themes of the session will include understanding heat risk; understanding who within a community is most vulnerable to heat; the role of anticipatory finance and insurance; and the potential to scale these solutions while still meeting local communities’ needs. Through an introduction to anticipatory financing and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent’s Anticipation Hub, remarks on global efforts to mobilize finance and insurance to reduce risk and impacts, a presentation by the newly appointed Chief Heat Officer of Freetown, Sierra Leone, and a case study on one of the world’s first forecast-based financial mechanisms focused on extreme heat, the speakers will illustrate how finance and insurance can be mobilized to help save lives and improve health and economic outcomes in the face of rising temperatures and more frequent heat waves. Finally, Daniel Stander will lead a moderated discussion and Q&A session with the panelists. This breakout session will move leaders from ambition to implementation – through climate risk finance and insurance solutions, leaders can take concrete action to protect lives and local economies from the dangers of our rapidly warming world.

Organising partner: Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center

Moderator: Mr Daniel Stander, Special Advisor on Finance, United Nations Development Programme

Speakers:

• Ms Kathy Baughman McLeod, Director and Senior Vice President, Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, Atlantic Council
• Mr Kshitij Gupta, Project Manager, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute
• Mr Amjad Ahmad, Disaster Risk Finance Coordinator, Start Network
• Ms Clare Harris, Technical Lead for Crisis Anticipation and Disaster Risk Financing, Start Network

Breakout session 8: Accelerating Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance solutions through national adaptation planning

National adaptation plan (NAP) processes will guide investments in adaptation over the coming years, whether from domestic budgets, the private sector, or international climate finance. Having climate and disaster risk finance and insurance (CDRFI) solutions CDRFI solutions better reflected in NAP processes will not only increase awareness of the role of these financial tools in a country’s adaptation journey, but also provide a basis for quickly and effectively scaling up such solutions.
Through an interactive exchange of knowledge, the session will explore how countries can use their NAP processes to accelerate CDRFI solutions that build resilience to climate change at different levels.

Organising partner: Munich Climate Insurance Initiative and NAP GN

Moderator: Mr Christian Ledwell, Manager, NAP Global Network

Speakers:

• Ms Viktoria Seifert, Manager Disaster Risk Finance & Policy, Munich Climate Insurance Initiative
• Ms Angie Dazé, Senior Policy Advisor and Lead, Gender Equality, NAP Global Network
• Mr Kemuel Jn Baptiste, Chief of Extension and Rural Advisory Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Co-operatives
• Mr Arthur Becker, Project Officer, Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Environmental Protection Agency, Liberia

LIVE closing intervention on the future of Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance and the outlook for 2022:

• Dr Astrid Zwick, Head of InsuResilience Secretariat
• Mr Dirk Reinhard, Vice Chairman, Munich Re Foundation

With video messages from:

• Mr Amal Krishna Mandal, Joint Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh
• Mr Achim Steiner, Administrator, UNDP