The MIA works with poor communities as equal partners, helping them to understand the features and solutions that microinsurance offers. We enable communities to assume the majority of insurance functions from the grassroots level to promote maximum community involvement and empowerment.

A key component of our interventions involves helping poor communities to create and design microinsurance products that meet local needs, priorities, and levels of willingness to pay. This is accomplished through a comprehensive series of studies and workshops to train, coach, and assist communities in developing relevant and cost-effective micro insurance systems and processes.

Our practices are based on a policy of “harnessing rather than inventing”. We harness the collective experience of the poor, their knowledge and proficiency in rationing and in dealing with local healthcare infrastructure. Using this information helps to ensure a smoother match between supply, demand, timing, and costs of services offered. By providing poor communities with the necessary knowledge to develop affordable healthcare, the Micro Insurance Academy minimizes the financial vulnerability they face when illnesses arise.

Currently the Micro Insurance Academy is actively involved in providing micro insurance training and expertise to communities in India and neighboring countires, with plans to expand into other geographies in 2009/10. Visit our News & Multimedia section to get the latest updates on our work in new communities.