The CDRFI Africa Forum, a regional platform bringing together governments, insurance regulators, development partners and insurance market actors to advance climate and disaster risk financing and insurance across Africa, concluded in Nairobi with a Call to Action to strengthen financial protection for public assets and critical infrastructure against climate and disaster risks.
The two-day Forum brought together representatives from 21 countries to share practical experiences from countries at different stages of developing and implementing disaster risk financing frameworks. Participants highlighted the importance of reliable national and regional risk data, stronger analytical and modelling capabilities, continued innovation in insurance markets and risk-pooling mechanisms to address the systemic nature of climate and disaster risks.
Participants further affirmed that robust risk information is essential to effective risk management, resilient planning, sound product development and the continued development of insurance markets. The Call to Action mandates ZEP-RE, a specialised institution of COMESA and a pan-African reinsurer, to support the design, establishment and operationalisation of a thematic risk pool to provide the capacity required to protect public assets and critical infrastructure against climate and disaster risks.
The initiative will be undertaken in coordination with participating governments, insurance regulators,
regional bodies, development partners and insurance market actors. To support implementation of the Forum’s commitments, participating governments also launched a government-led, peer-to-peer Community of Practice on Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance in Africa. The Community of Practice will provide a platform for governments to share experience, strengthen technical and institutional capacity, and translate the commitments of the Zanzibar Declaration into practical action.
The platform will also support market development and the design of practical financial protection solutions for resilient critical public infrastructure. Delivering his remarks, the Principal Secretary, State Department for Economic Planning, Dr. Boniface Makokha said: “Through the Community of Practice, participating countries will be able to voluntarily share tested approaches to designing and implementing national disaster risk financing strategies.”
He added that these approaches could include protecting critical public infrastructure through pre-arranged financing, regulatory alignment and complementary regional risk-pooling mechanisms for climate and disaster-related risks.
Hope Murera, ZEP-RE Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Countries have called for financial protection to safeguard public assets before disaster strikes. ZEP-RE is ready to help governments assess their exposure, determine what can be pooled and develop a solution that meets their needs.” Dr. Protazio Sande, Interim Chairperson of the East Africa Insurance Supervisors Association and Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda, said the challenge was to turn shared responsibility into shared action. He encouraged each delegation to take at least one action following the
Forum and report on its implementation when participants next convene. The CDRFI Africa Forum was held alongside the 8th Annual East Africa Insurance Regulators and ZEP-RE Strategic Forum. It was co-convened by the National Treasury of Kenya and ZEP-RE (PTA Reinsurance Company), with the East Africa Insurance Supervisors Association, the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya, the World Bank and the Global Shield against Climate Risks serving as strategic partners.