Workstream 3:
Capacity Building & Knowledge Management

Develop capacities of all stakeholders to guarantee a broader understanding of Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance, with comprehensible information easily disseminated through user-friendly knowledge-sharing platforms

InsuResilience Working Group on Integrated Approaches

The Integrated Approaches Working Group contributes to the Partnership’s Vision 2025 by linking Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) to a comprehensive risk-management practice and supporting the Partnership in strengthening the long-term resilience of poor and vulnerable people. The Working Group facilitates knowledge exchange and dissemination on new and existing solutions which integrate different disaster risk-financing and insurance tools with other risk-management components. Such bundled solutions can assist in capturing shared benefits spanning various risk-management elements and help to overcome trade-off decisions between investments in risk reduction, preparedness or risk financing.  

The Working Group was launched in 2018 with 25 members of the InsuResilience Global Partnership. That year, the Working Group jointly developed an integrated climate and disaster risk-management process. This formed the basis for a list of 12 integrated solutions that linked elements across the process. In 2019, the focus was on identifying linkages between risk reduction, ecosystem-based resilience and risk finance. As a result, three different studies were published (see links below):  

In 2020, the Working Group activities focused on exchanging knowledge and experiences relating to new solutions – from initial concepts to fully implemented – that have emerged in the field of Integrated Approaches. As a medium for this exchange, the Working Group organized two web-talks, which provided a platform for different stakeholders to discuss potential collaborations and project pilots. 

Both events were attended by participants from a broad range of stakeholder groups, including governments, civil society, international organizations, academia and industry. 

Web-talks organized by the Working Group

This web-talk engaged leading experts who presented the underlying science of NbS, explored linkages to risk-financing instruments towards enhanced resilience and showcased concrete examples of solutions that link risk financing and insurance to NbS. The presentations also provided insights on the applicability of these approaches in different locations.  

The main topics discussed during the web-talk were integrating resilience gains of NbS into risk financing and insurance approaches, safeguarding resilience barriers of ecosystems through financial protection mechanisms, looking into evidence of NbS strengthening resilience and applicability and piloting in new places. 

Summary Report

As part of a broader preparedness strategy, early warning systems can inform governments and humanitarian actors about looming climate impacts and then trigger anticipatory action. CDRFI solutions can provide governments and vulnerable people with prearranged, readily available sources of financing to support early action in the face of climate risk. 

This event showcased concrete examples of risk-financing solutions that are linked to early-warning systems, presenting options for anticipatory approaches to humanitarian funding and inclusive insurance solutions linked to early warning systems. The event was also used to gather deeper insights from participants on the applicability of these approaches. This web-talk was co-hosted by the Secretariats of the InsuResilience Global Partnership and the Risk-informed Early-Action Partnership (REAP). 

Summary Report 

Launch of sectoral communities

The Integrated Approaches Working Group launched four sectoral communities in late 2020 in order to increase the deep-dive into topic-specific discussions:  

  1. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and Risk Financing, 
  2. Integrated Resilience Approaches in Agriculture, 
  3. Linking Risk Financing to Anticipatory Action and 
  4. Risk Financing for Resilient Infrastructure. 

The sectoral focuses are demand-driven, based on ideas and interest expressed in the Working Group. 

The main objectives of these sectoral communities are to: 

The next step will be to define concrete deliverables for 2021 in each sectoral community.  

If you would like to get involved in the Integrated Approaches Working Group, please contact secretariat@insuresilience.org.

“The Integrated Approaches Working Group is an important platform to build our network and share ideas and visions. Furthermore, we can advise other stakeholders with our vast expertise.”

Samuel Brown,
Insurance Consultant, CelsiusPro (new member in 2020)

“Agritask is a member of the Working Group on Integrated Approaches. Agritask has benefited from sharing experiences with respected industry peers and in-depth discussions. This year, we explained how our platform could be used as a tool for Disaster Notification in Mozambique, especially in the context of Cyclones. It also allowed us to learn and contribute to the topics proposed in the different subgroups, e.g., the combination of agricultural DRR with risk financing, and potential solutions to address medium-frequency events such as drought.”

Dr Rom Aviv,
Managing Director - Head of Insurance, Agritask (new member in 2020)