Promising start for project Uganda
Together with the local project organization Suffice, MIAN is working hard to introduce micro-insurance into Uganda. Jan Ruijgrok talks about the start-up phase and discusses the current state of affairs.
Suffice’s objective is: to stimulate self-supporting finance for the local farming community. To achieve that so-called Saccos have been set up: Savings and Credits Co-operative Organizations. Jan: “You can compare them to the Boerenleen banks we used to have. Two years ago we came into contact with the then manager of Suffice, a Dutchman. Initially, he asked Toon Bullens if it would be feasible to link micro-insurance to micro-finance. That is the correct sequence; after all, before you can start thinking about insurance you need to have your lending and saving plans sorted out. In the context of that feasibility study, Kees Geertsema and I visited four Saccos in November 2005 in the south-west of Uganda. Two of those Saccos were sufficiently developed to seriously consider expanding them with micro-insurance.”
Awareness
According to Jan it is of vital importance in this kind of project to first find out if the people have any notion of the contribution that insurance can make to their wellbeing. “Studies on location quickly showed that that was certainly not the case. The people did not understand that there is an essential difference between insurance and borrowing or saving. People would ask, for example: when do I get my money back? Than you have to explain what the term ‘premium’ means.”
To increase awareness, MIAN contacted the University of Utrecht. In the autumn of 2006 the recent graduate Bodil Dronkers was assigned to give information ‘in the field’. After a course of practical training at the insurance companies Donatus and Onderlinge Sliedrecht, Bodil left for Uganda in October 2006 to start organizing workshops over there. According to Jan Ruijgrok she accomplished that task admirably. By December it was already possible for Jan, together with Lia van Hooff, to introduce an initial, basic death risk policy in Uganda. Lia took care of the underwriting aspect and Jan the administrative procedures.
Optimism
The expectations are optimistic, especially now that Bodil Dronkers has extended her stay in Uganda by six months in order to help with the implementation. She is focusing her attention on training the local staff and on communication. The latter is done through such things as radio commercials and posters in the form of cartoons. Clear, direct communication that is closely associated with the world of experience and perceptions of the local populace. Sales at the two Saccos, which together have three thousand members, will start in April 2007. Jan Ruijgrok believes that it will be possible to interest two-thirds of them for the initial policy. Two thousand participants, that would be an excellent start…
