How we work
How we collaborate across sectors to deliver practical solutions for global risk and resilience.
Closing protection gaps in countries which need it most is a monumental task that requires the effort of many, in close collaboration. The Insurance Development Forum (IDF) mobilises public and private insurance expertise and capital, and coordinates stakeholders across sectors to deliver impactful, anticipatory action.
We bring together the best minds in governments, the private sector, development institutions, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and other organisations to drive use of insurance as a tool for resilience and growth – not just to withstand shocks, but to unlock investment, entrepreneurship, and long-term prosperity.
We take action together as Change Agents. To build a foundation for the future. To help build future-ready nations.
Three pillars of our work
Implementation
Our work includes enabling access to risk understanding and risk modelling, driving greater use of measures to reduce risk, designing risk transfer solutions, sharing knowledge about risk management, investing in resilience, and influencing policy development and regulatory change.
Our disaster risk finance and insurance programmes, projects and initiatives enable social protection, food security, infrastructure resilience development, effective disaster response and greater national economic stability. Resilience for Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) – and tangible progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Engagement
The goals here are to deepen and expand engagement across the public and private sector, and to foster greater ownership and understanding of the progress being made by the IDF. We seek to diversify donor engagement in the IDF, and to expand engagement in the Disaster Risk Finance (DRF) space.
Advocacy
Our goals within this work are to strengthen the convergence between insurance and disaster risk management and its contribution to society; and to build broader awareness of the contribution that insurance and its capabilities can make to resilience and climate risk adaptation. To this end, we contribute our expertise to cross-cutting topics such as insurability, or the need for a reform of the international finance architecture, leading and supporting the shift from ex-post to ex-ante financing.
Our Programmes
The IDF drives action and implements projects under public-private partnership programmes to help build future-ready nations. These look to respond to the needs of Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) for different insurance capabilities and provide them as a public service, co-funded by donor entities and the IDF insurance industry members.
IDF insurance industry experts and many different IDF members and partners contribute to our programmes. Including re/insurers, brokers, development organisations, insur-tech companies, risk modellers, satellite data providers, and others. Projects formally commence once a country, region or city chooses to work with us and to co-lead a project on the demand side.
Our Working Groups & Task Forces
The IDF’s initiatives, programmes and projects are implemented by the following Working Groups and Task Forces, driven by private and public sector Co-Chairs. They are implemented by their members and partners – the IDF Change Agents – in project teams.