Consultancy Opportunity Micro Insurance Technical Assistance and Backstopping

DanChurchAid (DCA) vision is to strengthen the world’s poorest people in their struggle for a life in dignity. DCA is one of the largest and oldest humanitarian organizations in Denmark, working both with long-term development projects and humanitarian action since 1922. DCA has three thematic priorities: Save lives; Build Resilient Communities; and Fight Extreme Inequalities. DCA’s international programs contribute to the fulfilment of several SDGs, including SDG 2, 5, 8, 13, 16 and 17.

Micro-Insurance Action Research Project

DCA is exploring the feasibility of incorporating pro-poor micro-insurance into its programming in Kenya. Micro-insurance products offer coverage to low-income households or to individuals who have little savings. It is tailored specifically for lower valued assets and compensation for illness, injury, or death. As a division of microfinance, micro-insurance looks to aid low-income families by offering insurance plans tailored to their needs. Because the coverage value is lower than the usual insurance plan, the insured people pay considerably smaller premiums. Despite the noble intentions to enhance risk coverage, the uptake of insurance including micro-insurance amongst the rural farming households and peri-urban communities remains low. With 18 million people living on <$2 a day and a crisis away from absolute poverty, the possible value adds that insurance could generate is immense, borrowing heavily on the progress being made in China and India that continue to contribute to a reduction in poverty levels. This project seeks to determine the best delivery model, and engagement strategy to increase the number of individuals who purchase micro-insurance.

The action research covers the counties of West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo, Busia, Siaya, Nakuru and Nyandarua; as well as Nairobi, Kisumu and Eldoret (as the main towns supporting project beneficiaries with services) and aims to generate actionable evidence for deployment of micro-insurance model in Kenya with the long-term objective of contributing to an increased uptake of micro-insurance cover by rural and peri-urban communities.

The project seeks to answer three critical questions in generating the micro-insurance model as a key learning

1. What strategies work to ensure inclusion of marginalized groups in engaging and benefiting from micro-insurance products?
2. What is the impact of this inclusion on economic wellbeing of previously marginalized groups such as the elderly, women and people living with disabilities?
3. What policy frameworks support more inclusive market systems related to the micro-insurance subsector?

The project results are:

• Outcome – contributing to an increased uptake of micro-insurance cover by rural and peri-urban communities
• Outcome 1 – generating a replicable and responsive Micro-insurance model

Output 1.1 – Participatory Markets Systems Development report on the micro-insurance landscape in Kenya

Output 1.2 – Micro-Insurance operational model that supports uptake of micro-insurance by rural and peri-urban communities

• Outcome 2 – Increased uptake of micro-insurance by rural and peri-urban communities.

Output 2.1 – A functional and mainstreamed information dissemination platform for micro-insurance solutions

Output 2.2 – Enhanced desire to enroll for micro-insurance cover by target beneficiaries

Consultancy Purpose

The purpose of this consultancy is to offer Technical Support of the Action Research leading to generation of an industry sound operational model for deployment of micro-insurance by DCA. The technical support will be provided by way of reviewing and aligning the micro-insurance landscape report to the Micro-insurance market system in Kenya. After which, the consultant will work closely with the project team to analyze and test the micro-insurance model soundness with industry actors, leading to a validated micro-insurance roll-out operational model.

Specific Objectives of the Consultancy

The following specific objectives will be pursued by the assignment:

1. To review the market systems’ report and offer industry specific insights on areas of improvement
2. To review the proposed micro-insurance model and roll-out plan
3. Support the team in validation and finalization of the micro-insurance roll-out model

Scope of Work & Methodology

This task builds on a DCA global scoping of the insurance sector, that resulted in a micro-insurance ecosystem mapping of Kenya conducted in December 2020. This culminated in the ongoing action research that has sought to enhance a richer understanding of the micro-insurance landscape, propose and roll-out a micro-insurance model.

The consultant is expected to review the data and reports generated to date, as well as offer insights into and technically review the proposed model, as well as proposals to strengthen the model based on industry lessons/experience/knowledge. The task is to be conducted with a blend of face-to-face meetings in Nakuru and remotely.

Consultancy Deliverables

The following will be the expected deliverables of the consultancy:

• Detailed assignment plan prior to commencing the assignment (and following discussion with the DCA project leads), to be submitted electronically in English and detailing the below.

1. The proposed approach, activities and timeline, for each key activity indicating the foreseen number of hours/days work

• Technical backstopping report: after review of reports generated against industry knowledge and nuances:

1. Summarizing the key elements that need further interrogation
2. Analysis of the conclusions and recommendations that need further work or finalized
3. Conclusions and recommendations to enhance the reports accuracy
4. Support the industry stakeholders review and validation of the report findings.
5. The report should be clear, concise, well formatted/designed, visually appealing and easy for a wide/varied audience to read and understand.

• Micro-insurance Model

1. Summarizing the key elements that need further interrogation or tweaking in the proposed model
2. Analysis of the model against possible pitfalls of the proposed methodology
3. Support the industry stakeholders review and validation of the proposed methodology
4. Support the initial deployment and testing of the proposed model
5. The report should be clear, concise, well formatted/designed, visually appealing and easy for a wide/varied audience to read and understand.

• PowerPoint presentation summarizing the main findings and key recommendations for the project

Duration and Time Frame

The task is envisaged for 18 days spread in 4 months, which will take effect from the day of signing the contract with DCA

Consultant’s Expertise Required

The contract will be awarded to a recognized consultant meeting the following criteria:

• Demonstrated and varied experience in the insurance/micro-insurance sector, preferably in Kenya
• Technical training in climate change management, agricultural economics, or similar background, with broad experience including disaster risk management, climate finance, micro-insurance.

Budget

The budget for the assignment should include all relevant costs including professional fees, travel, local transport, accommodation, training etc. and deployed within no more than 18 days.

Expression of interest submission

DCA invites interested consultants to submit the following EoI documents by 31^st August 2021:

• CV highlighting experience relevant to this assignment
• Expression of interest / cover letter, outlining how the consultant meets the selection criteria and their understanding of the ToR.
• Names and contacts of three recent professional referees (previous clients) for whom similar work has been conducted.
• Itemized financial proposal.

Ethical standards and Intellectual Property

The consultants should take all reasonable steps to ensure that the task is designed and conducted to respect and protect the rights and welfare of the people and communities involved and to ensure that it’s technically accurate and reliable, is conducted in a transparent and impartial manner, and contributes to organizational learning and accountability.

All products resulting from this task will be owned by DCA. The consultant(s) will not be allowed, without prior authorization in writing, to present any of the analytical results as his or her own or to make use of the research results for private publication purposes.