R4 Rural Resilience Initiative - Amazon S3 · In Senegal, r4 has begun the pilot implementation for the 2013 agricultural season in 12 villages in the Koussanar communauté rurale

R4 Rural Resilience InitiativeQuarterly report | aprIl - JuNe 2013

Contentsexecutive summary 1

Status summary 3

accomplishments this quarter 5

r4 rural resilience in ethiopia: roll-out 2013 6

r4 rural resilience in Senegal: 2014 Scale-up plan 11

Conclusion 14

appendix I: r4 partners and institutional roles 16

appendix II: rural resilience event series 18

appendix III: Media citations and resources 19

Cover: at a community meeting in Michael Debir village in ethiopia’s amhararegion, farmers are asked to look back to the 1980s to recall which years had themost severe droughts. through this exercise farmers are helping to designinsurance contracts that will work best for them. Geoffrey McCarney / International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)

r4 Quarterly report | aprIl - JuNe 2013 1

For the 1.3 billion people living on less than a dollar a day whodepend on agriculture for their livelihoods, vulnerability toclimate-related shocks is a constant threat to food security andwell-being. as climate change drives an increase in the frequencyand intensity of natural hazards, the challenges faced by food-insecure communities struggling to improve their lives andlivelihoods will also increase. the question of how to build ruralresilience against climate-related risk is critical for addressingglobal poverty.

In response to this challenge, oxfam america and the uN WorldFood programme launched the r4 rural resilience Initiative,known as r4, referring to the four risk management strategiesthat the initiative integrates. Initiated in 2010, the program buildson the initial success of HarIta (Horn of africa risk transfer foradaptation), an integrated risk management frameworkdeveloped by oxfam america, the relief Society of tigray (reSt),together with ethiopia farmers and several other national andglobal partners1 to enable poor farmers to strengthen their foodand income security through a combination of improved resourcemanagement (risk reduction), insurance (risk transfer),microcredit (prudent risk taking), and savings (risk reserves).

exeCutive summary

an animator from one of r4’s local partner organizations, theNGo la lumiere, conducting a financial literacy training in aSavings for Change (SfC) group, in Senegal’s Koussanar ruralcommunity. Mansi Anand/ Oxfam America

1. See appendix I: ‘r4 partners and institutional roles’ for full list of r4 partners andinstitutional roles.


In ethiopia, this agricultural season, r4 expanded its operations toa new region amhara with a pilot in one village2, while expandingto 79 villages in tigray, covering a total of 20,365 farmers in 80villages. the amhara pilot is being implemented in partnershipwith the organization for rehabilitation and Development inamhara (orDa); the relief Society of tigray (reSt) continues toimplement r4 in tigray.

In Senegal, r4 has begun the pilot implementation for the 2013agricultural season in 12 villages in the Koussanar communautérurale3 covering 500 households ― thus supporting 3,000beneficiaries. the r4 Senegal team has also developed the 2014Scale-up plan and has identified the areas where r4 will beexpanded to in 2014.

In this report we share key accomplishments during the april–June 2013 quarter, present the Senegal Scale-up plan for 2014,and provide enrollment results for the 2013 roll-out in ethiopia.

2. It the ethiopian context, this report uses the word “village” to refer to theethiopian term tabia, or subdistrict. tabia is the tigrigna language name forkebele, that is, the smallest administrative unit of the ethiopian federalgovernment (uN emergency unit for ethiopia, 2003). ethiopia’s administrativestructure follows: region (e.g., tigray) > zone (e.g., eastern tigray) >woreda/district (e.g., Kola tembien) > tabia/subdistrict (e.g., adi Ha) > kushet.

3. a communauté rurale, or rural community, is the smallest sub-regionaladministrative unit in Senegal; it consists of a group of villages


etHiopiaIn the 2013 agricultural season, r4 expanded its operations to 80villages including 79 villages in the tigray region, and 1 village in anew region- amhara where a pilot is being implemented in MichaelDebir village. a total of 20,365 farmers purchased insurance this yearexceeding the goal of 19,000 this year. In amhara, farmers had theoption to purchase insurance through labor or with cash. In tigray,the 79 villages include 43 villages where insurance was offeredconsecutively in 2011 and 2012 agricultural season, where farmerscontinue to have the option to buy insurance through labor or withcash. In 36 additional villages, farmers were offered insurancethrough a cash-only option. In tigray, of the total 20,015 farmers who

purchased insurance, 82 percent were from the villages wherefarmers had both the options, and the remaining 18 percent ofpurchasers were from the villages where only the cash option wasoffered for purchasing insurance. of the total farmers who enrolledthis year in tigray, 81 percent purchased insurance by paying 10percent in cash and the remaining 19 percent paid fully with cash. Inamhara, all the 350 farmers farmers who purchased insurance, paidthrough labor.

More details on the 2013 enrollment appear in the “r4 ruralresilience in ethiopia: 2013 enrollment results” section of this report.

status summary

2012 2013

Jan Feb Mar apr May Jun Jul aug Sep oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar apr may Jun Jul aug Sep oct Nov Dec

Figure 1. r4 ethiopia timeline for 2013 season

stat

us

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Financial education

and outreach

enrollment

risk reduction activities

payout process

enrollment


payout process

Financial educationand outreach

Financial package development

Savings and credit activities

Financial package

development

senegalthe implementation of r4 in Senegal is now well underway.activities have started in the Koussanar pilot area in april for allof r4’s components― resource management (risk reduction),insurance (risk transfer), microcredit (prudent risk taking), andsavings (risk reserves). the pilot supports 500 households― thusreaching 3,000 beneficiaries― in 12 villages in the Koussanarcommunauté rurale. the risk reduction work being carried outincludes activities like development of lowlands for ricecultivation, building wells for horticultural production and trainingof farmers’ associations in improved rice production techniques.a study to assess the feasibility of different types of insuranceproducts to meet the needs of farmers was carried out in the lastquarter. the results of this study informed the design of aprototype weather index for crop insurance whose performance

is being tested during the current agricultural season. this indexwill form the basis of the actual insurance product to be offeredto farmers in 2014. New savings groups are being formed buildingon oxfam’s Saving for Change (SfC) program and a small businesstraining is being introduced in existing groups. an inventory creditsystem linked to village cereal banks (known as “warrantage”) isalso being set up. It seeks to provide farmers with access to creditright after harvest, a time of high household expenditures, toprevent sell offs of key food crops.

In addition to the implementation of the Koussanar pilot, the r4Senegal team is also laying the ground for the scale up andexpansion in other regions of Senegal in 2014. For more detailson scale-up strategy for Senegal, see section “r4 Scale on r4rural resilience in Senegal: Scale-up plan”.


2012 2013

Jan Feb Mar apr May Jun Jul aug Sep oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar apr may Jun Jul aug Sep oct Nov Dec

Figure 2. r4 senegal timeline for 2013 season

stat

us

P

P

P

P

P

planning

National assessments

local context analysis and planning


Insurance demand study %

product design

Creation & training of SFC Groups

Insurance dry-run tested

Conception of warrantage

process evaluation

Design risk reductioncomponent

risk assessment


aCComplisHments tHis quartermetriCs From tHe Field

etHiopia

Risk transfer• a total of 20,365 farmers from 80 villages purchased

insurance for the 2013 agricultural season.• a total of 86 development agents and woreda officials were

trained on insurance concept; 686 farmers trained in 'trainthe trainer' workshops on insurance and consumerprotection.

Disaster risk reduction• a total of 23,000 trees were planted; 200 hectares of land

was irrigated through construction of flood diversionstructures.

• about 19,900 trenches constructed to prevent soil erosion.• a total of 320 women farmers prepared small backyard plots

to produce vegetables.

Prudent risk taking and risk reserve• about 10,000 leaflets on financial education were distributed

in an r4-run awareness and education program.

senegal

Risk reduction• a total of 12 farmers’ associations were trained in improved

lowland rice production techniques; 70 farmers trained incomposting and phosphating techniques.

• a total of 12,845 farmers from 21 villages, including 2,870women, participated in video shows on community riskmanagement and insurance.

• anti-erosion stone bunds were constructed in 12 villages; 5wells were built and 4 vegetable gardens set up in 3 villages.

Risk transfer• two automated weather stations were installed in Koussanar in

collaboration with the National Meteorological agency and theIFaD/ WFp Weather risk Management Facility (WrMF).

• experimental risk simulation games were conducted by IrIresearchers with about 50 farmers, to understand farmers’perceptions of climate risks and insurance.

Prudent risk taking and risk reserves• a total of 21 new women savings groups created with an

average of 20 women per group; a total of 886 800 CFaaccumulated as savings.

• Four men’s savings groups created in 4 villages.• Community agents from la lumière and members of r4

local technical Committee members trained on thewarrantage credit system.

r4 was presented at the Hunger – Nutrition – Climate JusticeConference convened in Dublin from 15-16 april by the IrishGovernment and the Mary robinson Foundation. the conferencewas organized by the Irish Government in collaboration with WFpand the CGIar research program on Climate Change, agricultureand Food Security (CCaFS). a case study on r4, “the ruralresilience Initiative: building a risk management market for poorfarmers” developed jointly by oxfam and WFp was included inthe conference publication.

the rockefeller Foundation has selected r4 Senegal project as one ofthe agricultural innovations for their Centennial event, “realizing thepotential of african agriculture: Catalytic Innovations for Growth” to

be held from 8-9 July in abuja, Nigeria. the event is intended tohighlight top agricultural innovations from across africa andgenerate discussion among top-level african policy makers aroundfurthering these and other innovations across the continent tosupport small holder farmers. oxfam supported this initiative byconducting research on agricultural innovations of the past decade.eight of them were selected as the most promising innovations tobe featured at the event.

r4 is highlighted in the “Climate Change: the New economy”, the39th G8 Summit report published in June 2013 jointly by ClimateChange the New economy (CCtNe), the Guardian and unitedNations environment programme (uNep).


With an aim to strengthen farmers’ long-term food and incomesecurity, in 2009 a pilot of the HarIta model was conducted inadi Ha, a village in ethiopia’s northern tigray region. the pilotoffered a robust risk management package that integrateddisaster risk reduction, a credit option, and affordable insurance.an index-based weather insurance product was designed toinsure farmers’ teff crops. In 2010 this model was expanded tofour additional villages, and several adaptations wereimplemented based on discussions with farmers. two additionalcrops, wheat and barley, were covered. In its third year ofdelivery in 2011, HarIta was expanded to 43 villages covering13,195households and six crops: wheat, barley, maize, sorghum,bean, and teff. In the 2012 agricultural season, as part of the r4rural resilience Initiative, the program was further expanded to76 villages in the tigray region, covering 19,407 farmers.

r4 rural resilienCe in etHiopia: roll-out 2013

at a community meeting in Michael Debir village in ethiopia’s amhararegion, farmers are asked to look back to the 1980s to recall which yearshad the most severe droughts. through this exercise farmers are helpingto design insurance contracts that will work best for them. Geoffrey McCarney / International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)

Figure 3. Harita to r4 scale-up: goal vs. actual Households

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

02009 2010 2011 2012 2013

100 200 7001,308

11,50013,195

18,959

Goal actual

15,000

19,00020,365


the 2013 agricultural season marked the expansion of r4 to anew region amhara with a pilot implementation in one villagewhile continuing to work in the in tigray region. a total of 20,365farmers purchased insurance in tigray (20,015 farmers) and inamhara (350 farmers). Farmers have been able to purchaseinsurance with cash or, partially with cash and partially withlabor. the enrollment has been constrained by the budget for theinsurance-for-work (IFW) component of the project. However,given the resource constraints, the enrollment continues toreflect a very strong demand for insurance.

this section discusses enrollment results for the 2012 season,using data collected immediately following enrollment. the resultdoes not reflect final outcomes, which are being studied by themonitoring and evaluation team.

produCt optionsthis year, farmers in tigray were offered products that coveredshort-cycle crops (teff and beans) and long-cycle crops (maize,wheat, barley, and sorghum). In amhara, farmers had the optionto cover their wheat crop. the products are offered for twowindows in a given season depending on the type of crop:• early Index: targets weak or late onset of rainfall, which

impacts sowing and the establishment of long-cycle crops, likesorghum and maize.

• late Index: targets weak or early end of rainfall, which impactsflowering and grain filling of all crops.

For each index, a dry option was offered which is set to have ameaningful payout about once in four or five years for eachwindow. Insurance was offered by two ethiopian insurancecompanies, africa Insurance Company and Nyala Insurance ShareCompany.

Figure 4. districts, villages and crops insured in 2013

adua

alamata

ahferom

atsbi

Kilteawlaelo

Kolatembien

district village Crops insured

BethansDebreGenetaendaBagerimaGendebtaMariamShewitoSelodatahtaylegomtiWedikeshi

GerjalelaelayDayulimaatSelamBekalsiSelenWuhaKulu-Gizelemlem

BetgebezMaysuruSerotahtayMegariatsebrilelayMegariatsebriadiZataadiyiekoro

BarkaadiswhaHabeesGolgolemaleerubaFelegeFelegeWayane

NagashabrahaatsbahaadiKisandidaynalemGenfelKihenMahbereWeyaneMesanu

atakiltiendabanoWerkambaadihaawetbikalsiDebreGenet KBegashekGetskiMilesiley

Wheat, teffteffWheatteffWheat, teffteffteffSorghum

teffteffteffteffteffteff

teffteffteffteffteffteffteff

Wheat and BeansWheat and BeansWheat and BeansWheatWheat and Beans

teff, Wheatteff, WheatWheatteff, WheatWheatteff, Wheatteff, Wheatteff, Wheat

teff

teffteffteffMaize, teffMaize, teffMaize, teff

tigray region

raya azebo

saes-tsaeidaemba

samre

tanquaabergele

Wierelahe

libokemkem

district village Crops insured

GenetiHadealgaadisKigniBalaHaweltiKormetsigeaulagaMechareebo

HadushadiagaziasmenaGuemseHadushHiwetHangodaSendadaSinkata

adekealaadisalemSamdiWeyaneHintsaWazaMaytekliaMetkellemat

agbeImbarufaellemlemMeareyShekatekliGera

adisalemW/tseftsefendachiwaendagahamusMaekelawiMaekelSegliSelamZongi

Michael Debir

teffteffteffteffteffteffteffteffteffteff

Barley, WheatWheat, teffteff, WheatWheat, teffWheat, Barleyteff, WheatWheat, teffWheat, Barley, teff

teffteffteffteffteffteff

SorghumSorghumSorghum and MaizeSorghumSorghumteff

teffteffteffteffteffteffteff

Wheat

tigray region

amhara region

enrollment 2013a distinctive aspect of r4 is the insurance-for-work componentthrough which farmers who participate in a government-runproductive Safety Net programme (pSNp), which serves 8 millionchronically food-insecure households, are able to pay for theinsurance through labor. this year, r4 expanded to a new villagein the amhara region, covering 350 farmers. In tigray, the 43villages where the IFW option was offered in 2011 and 2012,continued to have the IFW option to purchase insurance. Inaddition, the project covered 36 villages where farmers wereoffered the option to purchase insurance with cash only, includingthe 33 villages covered last year.

the enrollment rate is calculated based on the total number ofhouseholds in the village (i.e., the number of purchasers in a villageas a percentage of the e total number of households in that village).It is assumed that there is only one purchaser per household.

the enrollment reflects a combination of demand for insuranceand the capacity of the program. the capacity to offer insurancein villages in which farmers had the option to pay for insurancewith labor was constrained by the funding for the IFW componentof the project. Instead of insurance being offered until everyonehad a chance to buy it, farmers had a limited window ofopportunity to purchase the insurance.

the enrollment was conducted on a first-come, first-served basis untilthe project reached the target number of households for that village.

In tigray, the average enrollment (percentage of farmers insured)in 43 villages where farmers have been offered the IFW option is34.81 percent; while the average in the 36 villages where farmerswere farmers were offered the cash-only option to purchaseinsurance is 7.16%.

Comparison oF average enrollment rates in 2010, 2011,2012 and 2013In tigray, farmers in five villages—adi Ha, awet Bikalsi, Geneti,Hade alga, and Hadush adi—have been offered the IFW optionfor the past four consecutive years. the average enrollment ratein these five villages has gone up from 22.2 percent in 2010 to 30percent in 2013. However, the enrollment rate fluctuates if welook at the results for each village over the course of four years.

In adi Ha village, where the pilot was first started in 2009, theenrollment rate has fluctuated from 31.1 percent in 2010 to 29.2percent in 2011 to 35.2 percent in 2012. In 2013 it has dropped by 8percent. In Hadush adi and Geneti, the enrollment rate has gone upeach year. For example, in Hadush adi, the enrollment rateincreased from 31.5 percent in 2010 to 36.1 percent in 2011 to 37.5percent in 2012 to 52 percent in 2013. the enrollment rate in Hadealga has gone up from 12.6 percent in 2010 to 15.4 percent in 2011and 2012 to 23.6 percent in 2013. Because overall enrollment isconstrained by project resources across all of the IFW villages, thesechanges reflect a mix of village-level demand, project-level IFWresources, and cost-sharing approaches such as the 10 percent cashcontribution by IFW farmers since 2012.


Figure 5. average enrollment rate for iFW and non-iFW villages for 2012 and 2013

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

28,56%

34,81%

7,16%

2012

IFW villages (43) non-IFW villages (32)

2013

10,54%

Figure 6. average enrollment rates in five villages where insurance was offered consecutively for four years

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

26%23,3%

22,2%

20,28%

2010 2011 2012 2013


Comparison oF average enrollment rates in 2011, 2012and 2013In tigray, farmers in 43 villages in nine districts have been offeredthe IFW option consecutively for 2011, 2012 and 2013. there hasbeen a rise in the average enrollment rate in 43 villages wherefarmers were offered the IFW option as well as the cash optionfor three consecutive years from about 28 percent in 2010 and2011 to 34.81 percent in 2013. While there is an increase in theaverage enrollment rate, the enrollment rate for each villagevaries; few of the villages show rise in the number of purchasersthis year while few show a decrease. In order to understandvarying enrollment rates in different villages, additional data forsubsequent growing seasons will be essential.

the average enrollment rate in the 32 villages where farmerswere offered the cash option to purchase insurance for twoconsecutive years has reduced from 10.54 percent in 2012 to 7.16percent in 2013.If we break-down these villages by those whoreceived payout last year and those who didn’t, enrollment ratefor most of the villages (17 out of 19 cash-paying villages whoreceived payout) has gone down. We expect to see fluctuations inenrollment in these villages which are paying in cash as farmerstend to dropout in years when there is no payout. of the 13 cashpaying villages who received payout last year, the enrollment ratehas increased for 6 villages.

on the other hand, in the villages where farmers have the optionto pay in labor, the average enrollment rate is more stable. For

example, the enrollment rate has remained steady or has gone upfor 81 percent of the IFW villages which did not receive payoutlast year. this indicates that farmers do not tend to drop out ofthe insurance scheme even if there is no payout in the previousyear. a possible reason for this could be that farmers understandthe benefit of the risk reduction activities that they conduct toearn insurance. the enrollment rate tends to fluctuate in case ofvillages where farmers are offered the cash option depending onthe payout cycles, that is, more farmers are likely to register inthe year following a payout and less so after a “ good” year whenthere is no payout. However, these assumption need to befurther tested. the ongoing monitoring and evaluation study willinform us of the factors affecting the demand over time by usingmultiple seasons of data.

Because the total IFW population served is constrained by thebudget for the IFW component of the project, it is important tonote that the demand for insurance in the 43 IFW villagescontinues to increase from 91 percent paying fully with labor in2011 to 93 percent paying 10 percent in cash and the remainderin labor to 98 percent paying 10 percent in cash and remaining inlabor; 2 percent chose to pay fully with cash.

the insurance policies for the 2013 season will expire in october.the end-of-the-season assessment will determine whether therewere any payouts in 2013. the results of the assessment will bepresented in the last quarter.

Figure 7. percentage of farmers purchasing insurance with 100% cash vs 10% cash + labor

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

32%

68%

81%

Farmers purchasing with 100% cashFarmers purchasing with 10% cash and remaining with labor

2012 2013

19%

Female vs. male purCHasersthe comparison between the 43 IFW villages and 36 non-IFWvillages continues to show significant difference in the percentageof women purchasers. Interestingly, the percentage of womenpurchasers is higher where women had the option to purchase

insurance with labor compared with where women only had theoption to purchase with cash. It will be important to understandhow the program is affecting women over time by using multipleseasons of data and by examining the factors that impactwomen’s decisions to purchase insurance.


Figure 8. percentage of female vs. male purchasers in iFW villages in 2013

Figure 9. percentage of female vs. male purchasers in non-iFW villages in 2013

Male

Female

Male

Female

34%

66% 86%

15%


guiding prinCiplesIn order to allow r4 to expand rapidly while maintaining the qualityand desired impact of its interventions, the Senegal scale-up plan isbased on the central principle of capitalizing on synergies withexisting government programs, as well as programs beingimplemented by WFp, oxfam, or other international or local partners.existing programs will thus be used as entry points upon which r4components can be integrated progressively and in a complementarymanner. a key step in the scale-up process will therefore beidentifying potential partnerships and programs to build upon.

another principle that guides the scale up strategy is achievingeconomies of scale. In practice, this means expanding operations

in areas where r4 capacity has already been built, in order tobenefit from the investments already made in terms of technicalcapacity building, infrastructure, institutional relationships, andpartnerships. at the same time, r4 will be introduced in newregions, thus establishing new r4 core areas which will in turn befurther expanded in following years.

the Initiative aims to support 6,000 households by 2014 (36,000beneficiaries) and 18,000 households by 2015 (108,000beneficiaries). the detailed roll out plan for 2014 has now beenfinalized, and the guiding principles and priorities for 2015-16have also been established.

r4 rural resilienCe in senegal: 2014 sCale-up plan

Women draw water from a well in a village in Senegal’s Koussanar ruralcommunity. under r4’s risk reduction component, participants createcommunity vegetable gardens and help rehabilitate or construct newwells to irrigate these gardens. Mansi Anand / Oxfam America


sCale-up in 2014Based on the guiding principles outlined above, as well asmeasures of food insecurity and exposure to climatic risks, theregions of tambacounda (where the Koussanar pilot is currentlybeing implemented) and Kolda (located in the south of thecountry) have been selected for scaling up r4 in 2014. Withinthese regions, a number of criteria have been used to identify thespecific communities for implementation. these criteria, whichare by no means absolute or exhaustive, but rather serve asgeneral guiding principles, are listed below:

• Household livelihoods primarily based on agriculture orpastoralism.

• High prevalence of chronic food insecurity.

• High vulnerability to recurrent, external (but non-conflictrelated) shocks ―in particular climate shocks ―which preventhouseholds from accumulating assets and hinder their ability tomake productive investments.

• presence of existing programs or partners which are alignedwith one or more of r4’s four risk management components,which the r4 framework can build on.

• presence of strong and engaged producers’ or women’sassociations, which can serve as entry points for r4 activities.

• presence of promising potential local implementation partners(i.e. who manifest interest in participating in r4, and possessthe necessary technical and organizational capacity).

Figure 10. r4 senegal 2014 scale up areas, tambacounda and Kolda regions


r4 will expand in 11 new communautés rurales in thetambacounda region, to cover 3,500 households (approximately21,000 beneficiaries). In parallel, the Initiative will be introducedin 6 communautés rurales in the Kolda region, with a target of2,500 households (15,000 beneficiaries).

the new tambacounda sites will benefit from the capacities builtin this region through the Koussanar pilot, including capitalinvestments (in particular weather stations for index-insurance);institutional relationships developed with local authorities,technical governmental agencies, and micro finance institutions;and technical capacity (both within the r4 team and amongst itslocal partners). In addition, scale-up in the tambacounda regionis aligned with the expansion plans of two of r4’s key existingimplementing partners: the NGo la lumière for the credit andsavings components, and the agricultural insurance companyCNaaS for the risk transfer component.

Kolda is characterized by high chronic food insecurity. the regionbenefits from the presence of existing WFp Food assistance forassets projects (which r4’s risk reduction and risk transfercomponents can build on), as well as community savings groupsfrom oxfam’s SfC program (which the Credit and Savingscomponents can build on). Kolda is also one of CNaaS’s priorityexpansion regions.

sCale-up Beyond 2014a national-level context analysis, carried out this quarter,enabled the identification of the Kaolack and Kaffrine regionsas the priority areas for r4 scale-up from 2015 onwards,beyond tambacounda and Kolda. this context analysis providesgoes well beyond existing stand-alone food security andnutrition assessments, to provide a more holistic picture ofwhat the priority regions for resilience-building are; as such, itforms an essential first step in geographical targeting for scale-up. the analysis combines data on food security, nutrition,climatic risks, livelihoods, and population density ― amongstother things ― to identify areas where important risksconverge. It will be further informed by the results of the newComprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability analysis(CFSVa) survey. the 2013 CFSVa, which was conducted in Juneby WFp in partnership with the Senegalese government,provides the most up-to-date and detailed data on householdfood security and livelihoods for the entire country.


Building on HarIta’s successful model for participatory designand capacity building, the r4 rural resilience Initiative ― now inits second year― continues to show promising results in ethiopia,thanks to its innovative insurance-for-work (IFW) component. theprogram has exceeded its goal of reaching 19,000 farmers bysuccessfully expanding to 80 villages, including a pilot village in anew region of amhara.

this year’s enrollment results in ethiopia are encouraging. theenrollment rate continues to increase in those villages wherefarmers had the option to buy insurance in exchange for work.In villages where farmers only had the option to pay with cash,enrollment rates vary, with experience from past payouts beingone of the deciding factors. results indicate that farmers are

more likely to register for insurance if there was a payout theprevious year, and less so if there was no payout the previousyear. Insurance take-up rates are also likely to vary depending onthe payout amount. In the coming seasons, the program willfurther refine these initial findings through the ongoingmonitoring and evaluation study. Data spanning multiple seasonswill be used to better understand how farmers perceiveinsurance, how significant the payout factor is in farmers’decision to purchase insurance or not, and how that trend differsbetween villages where farmers only have the option to pay forinsurance with cash, compared to villages with both the cash andlabor options. expansion to the amhara region will further testthe pilot in a slightly different context.

ConClusion

a WFp staff member helps women replant rice seedlings, in Senegal’sKoussanar rural community. Aliou Bassoum / Oxfam America

In Senegal, the r4 team is continuing to pilot the program modelin the Koussanar area, while gearing up for scale-up in 2014. theperformance of a prototype weather-index for crop insurance isbeing tested during the current agricultural season. this index willform the basis of the actual insurance product to be offered tofarmers in 2014.

With its successful initiation on the ground, the r4 partnershipset to enable many more vulnerable people to graduate fromfood insecurity through a community-oriented, risk management–focused, and market-based approach to achieve rural resiliency.



our loCal/national partners in etHiopia• africa insurance Company: private insurer in ethiopia

operating in the tigray, amhara, and oromiya regions.• dedebit Credit and savings institution (deCsi): Second-largest

microfinance institution (MFI) in ethiopia with nearlycomprehensive coverage of tigray. Named by Forbes magazineas one of the top 50 MFIs in the world.

• ethiopian farmers’ cooperative: primary organizing body forfarmers in the community.

• ethiopian national meteorological agency (nma): agencyoffering technical support in weather and climate dataanalysis.

• institute for sustainable development (isd): researchorganization dedicated to sustainable farming practices.

• mekelle university: Member of National agricultural researchSystem providing agronomic expertise and research.

• nyala insurance share Company: private insurer in ethiopiawith a strong track record of interest in agricultural insurance.

• organization for rehabilitation and development in amhara(orda): established in 1984 with a focus on natural resourcemanagement, food security and agricultural development inamhara.

• relief society of tigray (rest): local project manager forHarIta, responsible for operating the productive Safety Netprogram (pSNp) in six districts of tigray and overseeing allregional coordination. established in 1978. Working withoxfam since 1984 on development issues. largestnongovernmental organization in ethiopia (and one of thelargest in africa).

• tigray regional Food security Coordination office: office withoversight of the pSNp in the pilot area.

• tigray Cooperative promotion office: office responsible forhelping organize farmers at the village level.

our loCal/national partners in senegal• Agence Nationale de Conseil Agricole et Rural (ANCAR) -

national agency for rural and agricultural assistance.technical agency affiliated with the Ministry of agriculture. InKoussanar, it is responsible for leading community awarenessand mobilization activities, and providing seeds as well astechnical advice to farmers. like papIl and INp (listed below),aNCar is a key partner for the risk reduction component.

• Agence Nationale pour l’Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie(ANACIM) - national meteorological and Civil aviationagency. Will help with the design of insurance product(s) byproviding historical and current climate data, and installingand maintaining weather stations.

• Centre d’Appui au Développement Local (CADL) - supportCenter for local development. a body of the Ministry ofregional Development and of local government, it isresponsible for coordinating rural development projects ineach Communauté rurale. Chairs the r4 local technicalCommittee in Koussanar, and is responsible for thecoordination between the various local partners and for theoverall coordination of all r4 components on the ground.

• Crédit Mutuel du Sénégal (CMS) – mutual Credit of senegal. amicrofinance institution with an important national coverage,including in the tambacounda region. In Koussanar, it will be theimplementation partner for the risk taking (credit) component.

• Compagnie Nationale d’Assurance Agricole du Senegal(CNAAS) - national agricultural insurance Company ofsenegal. Senegal’s only agricultural insurance company(public-private company founded in 2008 by the government).It will be the insurance provider for the product(s) offeredunder the risk transfer component.

• Institut National de Pédologie (INP) - national institute forpedology. technical agency affiliated with the Ministry ofagriculture, in charge of soil conservation and restorationprojects, including building stone bunds and check dams, andcomposting.

• La Lumière. a grass-root Senegalese NGo which providesfinancial services to low-income rural households. It is thecurrent implementation partner for oxfam’s Saving for Changeprogram in Senegal, and will be the implementation partnerfor the risk reserves component in Koussanar.

• Projet d’Appui à la Petite Irrigation Locale (PAPIL) - project tosupport small local irrigation. technical agency affiliated withthe Ministry of agriculture, in charge of lowland rehabilitationand rice production activities.

• planet gurantee. Insurance broker specializing in micro-insurance for development and poverty reduction. InKoussanar, it will help CNaaS commercialize r4’s insuranceproduct(s) by conducting awareness-raising and marketingactivities among clients.

appendix i: r4 partners and institutional roles


• regional research Centre for the improvement of droughtadaptation (Ceraas). Will help with the design of insuranceproduct(s) by helping create the rainfall index (including bycontributing to studies on the use of remote sensing tools),and by carrying out crop monitoring.

• Université Gaston Berger de Saint Louis (UGB). the seconduniversity established in Senegal, specialized in Social Sciences,economics and Business Management, political Science andapplied Science. uGB will provide the enumerators for FerDI’srisk transfer studies.

our gloBal partners • Fondation pour les Etudes et la Recherche sur le

Développement International (FERDI): the Foundation forInternational Development Study and research was created in2003 on the initiative of CerDI- the Centre d’etudes et derecherches sur le Développement International (universitéd’auvergne, France) to support research in the field ofinternational economic development.

• goulston & storrs, and Weil, gotshal & manges: law firmsproviding pro bono legal expertise.

• index insurance innovation initiative (i4) at university ofCalifornia, davis (uC davis): research partnership on indexinsurance between academia and development organizations,with uC Davis, the Food and agriculture organization of theunited Nations, International labour organization, and the uSagency for International Development.

• swiss re: Global reinsurer and leader on climate changeadvocacy with funding and technical expertise.

• the international Fund for agricultural development (iFad):a specialized agency of the uN focused on rural povertyreduction, hunger and malnutrition.

• the international research institute for Climate and society(iri): Member of Columbia university’s earth Institute offeringresearch and technical expertise in climate data and weatherindex design for rural farmers.


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in tHe neWs• Climate Change the New economy (CCtNe), the Guardian and

united Nations environment programme (uNep), “G8 ClimateChange: the New economy”, (June, 2013).

• united Nations office for Disaster risk reduction (uNISDr),“From Shared risk to Shared Value –the Business Case forDisaster risk reduction. Global assessment report on Disasterrisk reduction” (May, 2013).

• Disaster risk Financing and Insurance program (DrFIp), GlobalFacility for Disaster reduction and recovery (GFDrr),“Senegal: Disaster risk Financing and Insurance Country Note”(November, 2012).

• agence de presse Sénégalaise, “Sénégal: le projet r4 veutaider les agriculteurs à faire face aux changementsclimatiques”, AllAfrica (Nov. 13, 2012).

• Sénégal – Humanitaire, “lancement au Sénégal d’une initiativede résilience rurale”, SousLeManguier (Nov. 14, 2012).

• “Sécurité alimentaire: l’assurance agricole pour réduire lesrisques en zone rurale”, Le Soleil (Nov. 14, 2012).

• Stephan Faris, “Seeds for Change”, Time (Sept. 24, 2012).

• lisa Friedman, “Companies Begin to See Necessity and profitsin adapting to Climate Change”, ClimateWire (July 11, 2012).

• Victoria eastwood, “Insurance Helps Kenya’s Herders protectagainst Drought”, CNN (June 18, 2012).

• Forum for agricultural risk Management in Development(FarMD), “oxfam & WFp’s r4 Initiative Begins expansion intoSenegal, Fueled by Success in ethiopia”, FarMD Memberupdates (June 5, 2012).

• David Satterthwaite, “Weather Insurance Builds resilience forFarmers”, Momentum (March 2012).

• Jim French, “ethiopian Crop Insurance and the Secret FarmBill”, Hutchnews (Dec. 22, 2011). this was also posted by:treeHugger.com, all Voices: local to Global News, and theWorld Food programme.

• David Bornstein, “News Flash: progress Happens”, The NewYork Times (Dec. 15, 2011).

• agnieszka Flak, “Games Wake people up to Climate Change,”reuters (Dec. 2, 2011).

• laurie Goering, “Insurance aims to Help Herders avoid‘Downward Spiral’ from Drought”, AlertNet (Nov. 30, 2011).

• lisa Jones Christensen, “Case Study: Swiss re and oxfam”Financial Times (Nov. 1, 2011).

• DesMoinesregister.com, “Crop Insurance Can pay off for Smallafrican Farms” (oct. 13, 2011).

• alertnet, “Scaling up Innovative Climate Change adaptationand Insurance Solutions in Senegal” (September 19, 2011).

• Global Washington blog, “reforming aid: transforming theWorld” (Sept. 8, 2011).

• alertnet, Index Insurance in East Africa, a video produced bythe International research Institute for Climate and Society(Sept. 2011).

• reuters, “Swiss re Joins ethiopian Micro-Insurance project”(June 10, 2011).

• tina rosenberg, “to Survive Famine, Will Work for Insurance”,The New York Times (May 12, 2011).

• IrIN Humanitarian News and analysis, “ethiopia: taking theDisaster out of Drought” (Nov. 24, 2010).

• “Global Insurance Industry Statement on adapting to ClimateChange in Developing Countries”, ClimateWise, incollaboration with the united Nations environmentprogramme Finance Initiative, the Geneva association, and theMunich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) (September 2010).

• evan lehmann, “Supporters of Global Insurance program Hopeto rebound after Dreary Copenhagen Summit,” ClimateWire(aug. 4, 2010).

• MicroRisk, “Swiss re Climate-linked Crop Insurance takes off”(July 2010).

• Deborah Kerby, “Climate Covered,” Green Futures (July 2010).

• lloyd’s News and Features, “Microinsurance to MitigateClimate Change Impact” (June 4, 2010).

• anne Chetaille and Damien lagrandré, “l’assurance Indicielle,une réponse Face aux risques Climatiques?” Inter-réseauxDéveloppement rural (March 31, 2010).

• pablo Suarez and Joanne linnerooth-Bayer, “Micro-Insurancefor local adaptation”, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: ClimateChange (March 12, 2010).

• New england Cable News, “oxfam provides Farm Insurance inafrica” (Nov. 6, 2009).

• James F. Smith, “World’s poorest Farmers Now offeredInsurance”, The Boston Globe (oct. 13, 2009).

• evan lehmann, “africa experiments with Climate Insurance—for $5 a year,” The New York Times (Sept. 30, 2009).

appendix iii: media Citations and resourCes


• “Swiss re, oxfam america, rockefeller Foundation, andColumbia’s IrI expand Joint risk Initiative in tigray, ethiopia”,Swiss re press release (Sept. 25, 2009).

• The Guardian, “Climate Insurance: What Kind of Deal Can BeMade in Copenhagen?” (July 24, 2009).

• Jeff tollefson, “Insuring against Climate”, Nature (July 22,2009).

• Catherine Brahic, “an Insurance plan for Climate ChangeVictims”, New Scientist (July 1, 2009).

• omer redi, “Insurance Firm Sows Seeds”, Addis Fortune (June14, 2009).

• Newsweek, “Coping with Climate” (Dec. 29, 2008).

aCademiC Journals and puBliCations • pablo Suarez and Jaanne linnerooth-Bayer, “Insurance-related

Instruments for Disaster risk reduction”, Global assessmentreport 2011, International Strategy for Disaster risk reduction(october 2011).

• Joanne linnerooth-Bayer et al., “Drought Insurance forSubsistence Farmers in Malawi,” Natural Hazards Observer 33, no.5, Natural Hazards Center, university of Colorado (May 2009).

• Molly e. Hellmuth, Daniel e. osgood, ulrich Hess, anneMoorhead, and Haresh Bhojwani, “Index Insurance andClimate risk: prospects for Development and DisasterManagement,” International research Institute for Climateand Society (IrI), Columbia university (2009).

• peter Hazell, Jamie anderson, Niels Balzer, andreas HastrupClemmensen, ulrich Hess, and Francesco rispoli, “potential forScale and Sustainability in Weather Index Insurance for agricultureand rural livelihoods,” International Fund for agriculturalDevelopment (IFaD) and World Food programme (March 2010).

• Marjorie Victor Brans, Million tadesse, and takeshi takama,“Community-Based Solutions to the Climate Crisis in ethiopia,”Climate Change Adaptation and International Development:Making Development Cooperation More Effective, JapanInternational Cooperation agency (JICa) research Institute(December 2010).

stories“ethiopian Farmers Get a payout, easing effects of Drought”

“With Insurance, loans, and Confidence, this ethiopian FarmerBuilds Her resilience”

“In Northern ethiopia, Weather Insurance offers a Buffer againstDrought”

“Weather Insurance offers ethiopian Farmers Hope—DespiteDrought”

“Medhin reda’s Best asset Is Her own Hard Work”

“Gebru Kahsay relies on rain But Has the Security of Insurance”

“Selas Samson Biru Faces uncertainty with the Seasons”

videos/multimedia Africa’s Last Famine, a documentary co-produced by oxfamamerica and link tV, featuring HarIta

R4: The Rural Resilience Initiative

A Tiny Seed and a Big Idea

A New Tool for Tackling Poverty

pHotograpHy project photos are available upon request. See examples ofphotos used in the enclosed quarterly reports.

partner reports • HarIta IrI updated 2012 HarIta Initial end of Season

assessment october 2012. this report is a deliverable by theInternational research Institute for Climate and Society (IrI) tooxfam america. It provides an early, exploratory assessmentof the 2012 rainfall season for the HarIta/r4 project inethiopia in terms of satellite rainfall estimates and theirimplication for the 2012 indexes.

• HarIta IrI report to oxfam america March 2012: this reportis a deliverable by the IrI to oxfam america on the 2012 indexdevelopment processes and presents the final indices offeredin the project villages.

• HarIta IrI report to oxfam america May 2011: this report isa deliverable by IrI to oxfam america on the 2011 indexdevelopment processes. It provides a description of theindexes, their structure, their data sources, the design process,and action plans for the project as well as a separate sectionwith the educational materials used to support the 2010/2011index development process.

• HarIta IrI report to oxfam america June 2010: this progressreport is a formal deliverable by IrI to oxfam america andpresents an overview of the scalable index insurance productdevelopment process for the 2010 growing season. It explainsthe economic risk simulation games conducted with farmers tounderstand their risk-management decisions/preferences andalso to educate them about index insurance packages.


• technical annex: HarIta IrI report to oxfam america June2010: IrI has been working to build a formal statisticalmethodology that will systematically compare and integrateinformation on remote sensing of rainfall, ground-based datameasurements, and other data sets. this report presents apreliminary analysis that focuses on adi Ha—the pilot village—modeling rainfall at five neighboring sites, where daily rainfallamounts have been recorded during different intervals foreach site over the course of a 49-year time period, from 1961to 2009. this methodology is intended to be further developedand packaged into tools for contract design and evaluation.

• HarIta IrI report to oxfam america october 2010: thisprogress report is a formal deliverable by IrI to oa thatsummarizes the 2011 scaling process and presents theeducation materials developed to support the scaling process.

otHer reports • Million tadesse and Marjorie Victor, “estimating the Demand

for Micro-Insurance in ethiopia,” oxfam america (2009). areport commissioned by the International labour organizationand the united Nations Capital Development Fund.

• Woldeab teshome, Nicole peterson, aster Gebrekirstos, andKarthikeyan Muniappan, “Microinsurance Demand assessmentin adi Ha” (2008). a study commissioned by oxfam america.

• Nicole peterson and Conner Mullally, “Index Insurance Gamesin adi Ha Village, tigray regional State, ethiopia” (2009). astudy commissioned by oxfam america.

• Nicole peterson, “livelihoods, Coping, and Microinsurance inadi Ha, tigray, ethiopia” (2009).

• tufa Dinku et al., “Designing Index-Based Weather Insurancefor Farmers in adi Ha, ethiopia,” IrI (2009). report to oxfamamerica.


the treasurer of a Savings for Change (SfC) group, in Senegal’s Koussanarrural community, collecting members’ dues during one of the group’sweekly meetings. Katie Naeve/ Oxfam America

Collaborationthe r4 rural resilience Initiative is a strategic collaborationbetween the World Food programme and oxfam america, withno commingling of funds. each partner has its own sponsors as listed. r4 is inviting donors to support expansion.

the World Food programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agencyfighting hunger worldwide. each year, onaverage, WFp feeds more than 90 millionpeople in more than 70 countries.

www.wfp.org/disaster-risk-reduction

With support from

© 2013 all rights reserved.

oxfam america is an international relief and development organization that createslasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice, working with individuals and local groups in more than 90 countries.oxfam america does not receive funding from the uS government.

www.oxfamamerica.org/r4

With support from

Documents

R4 Rural Resilience Initiative - Amazon S3 · In Senegal, r4 has begun the pilot implementation for the 2013 agricultural season in 12 villages in the Koussanar communauté rurale