January 23, 2006
Gates gives $5.5m for Aga Khan project
By A CORRESPONDENT
The EastAfrican
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given a grant of $5.5 million to Aga Khan Foundation USA (AKF-USA) for a microinsurance initiative in Pakistan and Tanzania.
The five-year initiative aims to improve the economic stability of microentrepreneurs and other poor families by reducing their vulnerability to loss of savings and income as a result of catastrophic events such as long-term hospitalisation, business or crop loss, or death of the head of a household. The initiative intends to develop a model for the provision of microinsurance that will be viable and financially sustainable in multiple socio-economic and cultural contexts.
AKF-USA will work with the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) in implementing activities, first in Pakistan – where the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has well-established institutions and a long history of innovation in financial services, insurance, social development and poverty reduction.
In 2007, AKAM will begin programme activities in Tanzania, where AKDN has also had a long-term presence.
The initiative is designed to create a replicable model for extending and deepening the impact of microfinance by providing affordable, comprehensive insurance products to poor and very poor microfinance clients.
It offers the opportunity to test how microinsurance services could become a powerful and cost-effective tool complementing micro-lending and savings.
The programme will bring together high-level international expertise, market research, pilot studies and the use of modern technology to demonstrate how microinsurance services can be delivered cost-effectively to the poor. AKF-USA will also work jointly with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to disseminate learning about the impact of microinsurance services on the poor.
Ismailimail 