Drought is the most pervasive hazard, encountered by these households on a widespread level. Given the pastoralists sole or partial reliance on livestock for their livelihoods, the resulting high livestock mortality rate has devastating effects on asset levels, rendering pastoralists amongst the most vulnerable populations in Kenya. The project therefore intends to answer pastoralists' need for strategies and tools for managing the climate related risks that they face. The objectives are to ensure that individuals making contract purchase decisions are fully aware of the benefits and extent of insurance coverage and its possible limitations; to develop a transparent and efficient framework for administering insurance contracts that generates enough confidence to increase outreach and develop customers loyalty; and to learn and document the effectiveness of various financial marketing and extension services and tools to a relatively illiterate population that is ethnically diverse and inhabits a remote and infrastructure deficient region.
The project aims to test the viability and impact of livestock insurance contracts based on an estimated relationship between historical livestock mortality and satellite readings of forage availability. It will further attempt to test models for enhancing consumer understanding of insurance principles and education which can improve outreach for insurance amongst vulnerable households
The project will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will involve set-up, project launch activities and initial documentation of lessons learned. The second phase will involve scale up of project within Marsabit and continued documentation on lessons learned.
Equity Bank is a competitive provider of financial services, with a focus on the unbanked and underbanked. Equity Bank's vision is to be the preferred microfinance provider contributing to economic prosperity of Africa.
UAP Insurance Company is one of the leading financial services groups in East Africa. The group transacts all classes of general insurance in addition to marine, life, pensions and healthcare products.
The project is targeted towards pastoralists in Kenya's Marsabit District. Marsabit has a population of approximately 30,000 households and a livestock population of 120,000 cattle, 1 million sheep and goats, and 76,000 camels.
Date of last Learning Journey update: February 2012
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works at the crossroads of livestock and poverty, bringing high-quality science and capacity-building to bear on poverty reduction and sustainable development for poor livestock keepers and their communities. ILRI's research portfolio comprises three issue-oriented themes: 1) improving market opportunities; 2) using biotechnology to secure livestock assets; and 3) people, livestock and the environment. The institute also researches two cross-cutting programs that study evolution in livestock systems and the impacts of livestock innovation on poverty, vulnerability and gender equity. ILRI works in all tropical developing regions with special emphasis on Africa and South and Southeast Asia.