The Pan African Mutual Risk Management Organization (ARC) has welcomed the approval of the African Disaster Risk Financing Program (ADRF) by the African Development Bank (AfDB) ).
Discussions to establish the ADRiFi Program as a mechanism to strengthen resilience and response to climate change and natural disasters in regional member countries were formalized in March 2017.
Since then, the African Development Bank and the Pan-African Risk Management Mutual Institution have started to orchestrate, as part of the signed technical collaboration agreement, activities aimed at improving infrastructure and management policy. risks in Africa, as well as helping countries build resilience to climate shocks.
At the annual meetings of the African Development Bank in 2018 in Busan, South Korea, a special session on “Financing against climate change and disaster risk” gave a new impetus to the achievement of the goals set.
ADRiFi is a timely response to a request for premium funding support from a number of RMCs to address the lack of resources that impede the necessary participation in the CRA member country group.
“This is one of those moments where you feel very proud to be African,” said Mohammed Beavogui, chief executive officer of the ARC, in reaction to the ADB announcement. “The dedication and commitment of President Adesina and his team to this initiative is a model to be followed by other regional and multilateral partners. This is essential for us to achieve food security on the continent by ensuring that vulnerable populations in Africa are insured against the often overwhelming impacts of climate-induced natural disasters, “he said.
Welcoming the tenacity and hard work of the AfDB and ARC teams involved in the implementation of the ADRF program, Board Chair Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala shared her enthusiasm by acknowledging that ” The landscape of disaster risk financing in Africa has been given a decisive boost … It is time to move quickly to extend our disaster risk insurance coverage to more member countries which, up to now could not join the group of member countries insured by the CRA because of financial constraints. ”
Dolika Banda, Executive Director of the Insurance Company of the Pan African Mutual Risk Management Institution (ARC Ltd), also expressed her appreciation for the enormous commitment of the two institutions that has materialized in the realization of an innovative initiative. “We now know that collaborative partnerships work when there is a high level of loyalty. The ARC will build on this great success to build relationships with other institutions to make Africa’s insurance coverage more inclusive of disaster risks, “she said.
The ADRiFi program will focus on strengthening national institutions, policy development, risk profiling and disaster preparedness for participating RMCs.
In accordance with the agreed structure, it will help countries to develop climate risk profiles, strengthen their contingency plans and transfer risk through grant subsidies of up to 50% over a five-year period. In the fifth year of the program, the country will pay the entire premium.
The ADRiFi program is open for membership by all ADB member countries that are ARC member states and signatories to the ARC Establishment Treaty.
About the Pan African Risk Management Mutual (ARC):
The CRA is made up of the ARC Agency and the ARC Insurance Corporation (ARC Ltd). The ARC Institution was established in 2012 as a specialized institution of the African Union to help Member States improve their capabilities to better plan, prepare and respond to meteorological disasters. ARC Ltd is a mutual insurance company providing risk transfer services to Member States through risk pooling and access to reinsurance markets; It is owned by Member States with insurance contracts in force, as well as by the German Development Bank (KfW) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), as capital contributors.
With the support of the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, France, the Rockefeller Foundation and the United States, the ARC helps Member States to reduce risks loss and damage caused by extreme weather events affecting African populations by providing, through sovereign risk insurance for disaster risks, targeted responses to natural disasters in a more timely, economical, objective and transparent manner. The ARC is now using its expertise to help tackle other major threats facing the continent, including outbreaks and outbreaks.
