For FijiCare Insurance, the parametric micro-insurance product means their customers and affiliates are able to focus on other income streams, without worrying too much about losses incurred during the cyclone season, as some compensation is at least available. This provides beneficiaries that peace of mind as many people would otherwise be forced to pull from their savings or take out unsecured loans to cover their losses.

The parametric microinsurance product is a game changer, according to FijiCare Insurance. It is an insurance product that ensures farmers have some form of protection against loss and damage, which happens all too frequently in Fiji, due to exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters. The market-based product can also be competitively traded in the open marketplace, making it an attractive proposition for private insurers like FijiCare.

Since the launch of the pilot project in August 2021, under the UN Capital Development Fund’s Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP), FijiCare Insurance has witnessed a change in the attitudes of farmers, particularly when they realise the benefits of purchasing insurance cover.

Those who have signed up for the product view the financial security as a life saver rather than money waster. According to FijiCare Insurance, the level of confidence in the product has also resulted in an increased number of farmers signing up for the protection. This indicated that the beneficiaries had a better understanding of what the product entailed through various awareness initiatives and financial literacy programmes .

FijiCare Insurance noted that efforts should not stop there, and that advocacy and insurance literacy programmes were needed to change the mindsets and perspectives of farmers about insurance. Ensuring awareness programmes were conducted in the languages that people could understand was vital to the scheme’s success.

The company and affiliates appreciate the strengths of the product, including financial protection from loss of income and immediate relief, which imparts a sense of assurance that farmers can piece their lives back together in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

A weakness from FijiCare’s standpoint is the tedious task of data collection, however, the collation of data could be used as a benchmark for future products and programmes. To ensure product sustainability, FijiCare Insurance shared that continuous workshops and advocacy projects could be key, noting that several initiatives under their PICAP activities have been embedded into their own marketing and awareness efforts. The company’s support for the project is underlined by the setting up of an organisational structure for the project team, clearly outlining duties and key performance indicators.

While FijiCare Insurance does not deal directly with the farmers or beneficiaries under the parametric microinsurance project, feedback from their aggregators suggest that some farmers still do not fully understand the concept of insurance.

This would translate to the need to increase efforts around advocacy and awareness, financial/insurance literacy and marketing to ensure that the farmers who sign up for the product are well-informed about the product from the word go. It is conceivable that an enhanced understanding will lead to a greater number of clients. This highlights and re-emphasises the crucial role of marketing, awareness, advocacy and outreach campaigns, which need to be consistent and ongoing.

The insurance company is also working with established faith-based women’s groups and has started educating primary and secondary school students on the importance of insurance through the school curriculum. FijiCare Insurance is also reaching out to dalo and kava farmers who may be interested in taking up the parametric microinsurance product as a form of financial protection/mitigation against the ever-present danger from natural disasters and cyclones.
For FijiCare Insurance, two areas where assistance is needed from its UNCDF partner include marketing of the product on a one-to-one basis and boosting awareness programmes to reach the masses and potential beneficiaries.

Data collection, from the company’s standpoint, has been a pressing issue since the inception of the product. “That is because of inaccessibility to the farmers and those who reside in informal settlements” states the company.

“As such the technical support we would like would be to design an online platform where beneficiaries can log on to register themselves and we can extract their personal information from these online platforms.”