Deadline: 7 February 2020

Applicants are invited to submit their concept notes for the 3rd call of InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) to promote the development of innovative and financially sustainable climate risk insurance products in developing and emerging countries.

ISF is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and KfW Development Bank and implemented by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS).

Pillar III

Grant-based co-funding for the development and market introduction of climate risk insurance products, the ISF provides grant-based co-funding to:

• transform existing and advanced climate risk insurance concepts into products which are ready for market placement, and
• bring successfully piloted climate risk insurance products to scale.

Pillar III of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund operates as a programme of grants to partnerships with local actors to develop and scale climate risk insurance projects.

Focus Areas

ISF has three focus areas:

• Development of new climate risk insurance products, especially for governments.
• Scale-up of already existing, piloted products, e.g. into other regions or to other groups.
• Investment in technological solutions to improve and scale-up insurance operations, e.g. through applying satellite technology or drones.

Grant Information

ISF provides grants up to 2.5m EUR under the condition that the partnership commits a meaningful own contribution of 50% of the requested funding in kind and/or as financial contribution.

Target Countries

• Focus on poor and vulnerable households (< 15 USD PPP per day) either directly (through micro-level insurance) or indirectly (through meso- or macro-level solutions).
• Countries in Asia and the Pacific, Africa and Latin America which are eligible to receive official development assistance (ODA) as defined by the OECD Development Assistance Committee and are vulnerable to extreme weather events. Nevertheless, countries that are official candidates for accession to the European Union or beneficiaries of the European Neighbourhood Instrument East are considered to be non-eligible for ISF funding. These include: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, and Turkey.

Target Groups

Target group of the ISF are joint initiatives of:

• (local) public entities (e.g. national and regional government bodies or communities),
• private companies in the insurance sector, and
• NGOs, humanitarian organisations.

Criteria

• The ISF provides grant only to Partnerships consisting of public and/ or private organisations:
  • where at least one partner is
    • representing the demand and needs of end-beneficiaries (e.g. national or regional government bodies, NGOs, local insurers)
    • willing to act as a risk taker (e.g. reinsurance company)
    • located in the target country
  • which provide an own contribution
    • matching the grant funding (in-kind and/or as financial contribution, including funds from their own resources and co-financing)
• Further parties, e.g. other product implementing partners such as risk modelling agencies, insurers, brokers, can additionally be involved.

Additional Criteria

• The insurance product covers at least one of the following perils: flood, wind/storm, excess rain, drought/ heat waves, cold spells (a combination with other perils is possible).
• The project has a lifespan of up to 24 months/the product is ready for market placement and launch within 24 months after funding approval.
• A work, budget and time plan containing reliable cost estimations exist.
• Relevant experience of implementing partners, reference project exist.
• Funding is requested for product development related costs (e.g. data collection, IT, risk modelling, etc.).

The following will NOT be considered appropriate for funding through the InsuResilience Solutions Fund:

• Extended infrastructure investments (e.g. physical installations exceeding five square meters;
• Measures having a direct ecological or socio-economical impact (e.g. purchase of fertilizers, implementation of livelihood activities);
• Funding requests where insurance development activities are representing only a minor fraction of the overall budget, e.g. financing of premiums (stand-alone);
• Measures not having a direct linkage with establishment, surveillance, monitoring or sustainability of an insurance product;
• Education and acquisition of formal qualification in disaster/ climate risk management;
• Taxes and levies of all kind;
• Basic research work (without a strong practical orientation or reference to the application with respect to the project)

For more information, visit https://www.insuresilience-solutions-fund.org/call-for-proposals