Social Welfare recipients can now get access to immediate assistance following a tropical cyclone after being included in the Parametric Micro-insurance product.
This is following a joint partnership between the UN World Food Programme, the UN Capital Development Fund and the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation.
Recipients can take an insurance cover of $400 per year by paying a premium of $32 annually.
The product will only cover strong wind and payment will be made as soon the threshold for wind speed is met or exceeded.
The payouts are based on the highest gust wind speed when the event happens which means there is no need for verification or actual loss to take place for the beneficiary to receive it.
Parametric insurance in the event of a cyclone can result in payments to those affected within 3 to 5 business days.
Meanwhile 325 social welfare recipients living in high disaster risk locations in Fiji have so far been included in a pilot climate risk insurance project that will run for 12 months.
UNCDF Executive Secretary, Preeti Sinha says developing climate and disaster risk insurance solutions for vulnerable segments is a priority and their growing body of work in this area is anchored in the Pacific.
Sinha says they see this strategic partnership with the World Food Programme as a model where the strengths and capacities of two UN agencies are combined to bring innovative solutions to governments to help them address development challenges for the most vulnerable.
Director of World Food Program’s Pacific Multi-Country Office, Jo Pilgrim says they are excited about this innovative partnership and pilot that brings the first macro-micro climate risk insurance to some of the most vulnerable households in Fiji including people with disabilities and older persons.
She says as climate change impacts are increasingly felt across the Pacific, it is those most vulnerable who bear the brunt of more intense extreme weather event.
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