The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) unveils its Compendium of Risk Transfer Solutions at the G20 DRR Ministerial Meeting in Cape Town, on International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. This compendium presents 20 case studies that demonstrate the role blended finance plays in strengthening disaster resilience across Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Islands Developing States (SIDS).

The compendium is the first G20 deliverable where UNCDF has taken a lead role in curation and drafting, highlighting the organization’s growing leadership in pre-arranged disaster risk financing and resilient recovery. It is a unique resource designed to help LDCs and SIDS expand access to innovative risk transfer mechanisms – including climate risk insurance – that provide faster and fairer financial protection before and after climate shocks.

“This Compendium is a call to action that shows how creative financing solutions can help close the big funding gaps that hold back disaster resilience,” said UNCDF Executive Secretary, Mr. Pradeep Kurukulasuriya. “As extreme events become more frequent and severe, UNCDF is in a strong position to use tools like concessional loans, guarantees, and blended finance to expand access to insurance products that protect communities and developing economies from the worst impacts.”

The G20 was founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis of 1997 – 1998 as an informal forum for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the most important industrialised and developing economies to discuss international economic and financial stability.

The G20 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Working Group aims to integrate DRR into policy and financial decisions to build resilient economies and societies, promoting global solidarity and addressing inequalities by sharing best practices and developing technical guidance to addressing inequalities and reducing vulnerabilities.

The Compendium brings together more than 20 case studies and instruments designed to strengthen financial protection against disasters, such as the ARC Replica payouts in Zambia and Zimbabwe that provided anticipatory food assistance to 430,000 people during drought; the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), which has delivered rapid payouts within 14 days to 16+ countries since 2007; the Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP) in Fiji, and South Africa's community-based STOKVELS, which demonstrate how localized, inclusive models can build trust and affordability in disaster risk finance.

The publication highlights a range of risk transfer instruments including parametric insurance, sovereign risk pools, catastrophe bonds, special purpose vehicles, and insurance-linked social protection systems.

By showcasing practical solutions, the Compendium will offer governments and development partners a roadmap to move from reactive response to planned, predictable and inclusive recovery finance.

Drawing from UNCDF’s work in the Pacific, Africa and Asia, the Compendium also features country innovations such as the VAT exemption on climate insurance in Fiji, a regulatory sandbox for climate risk products, and aggregator-led approaches for informal workers in Malawi.

These examples demonstrate how local innovation can inform global policy discussions and be scaled through public-private partnerships.

About UNCDF

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) mobilizes and catalyses an increase in capital flows for impactful investments in high-risk markets, especially in Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and countries in special situations. By crowding in capital through the deployment of risk-absorbing financial instruments, mechanisms and structuring advisory, UNCDF contributes to job creation and sustained economic growth in more than 70 countries.

In partnership with UN entities and development partners, UNCDF operates with speed and agility to deliver scalable, blended finance solutions to drive systemic change and pave the way for commercial finance and scale up by development finance institutions and multilateral development banks.

Learn more at uncdf.org or follow @UNCDF