The Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit, more popularly known as GIZ in more than 120 countries where it operates, is a private sector entity founded and funded by the Federal Republic of Germany. It maintains an army of 24,977 employees worldwide, about 70 percent of whom are nationals of the host countries, with 58.8 percent of them women. GIZ’s primordial aim is to promote international cooperation for sustainable development and education activities around the world.
In 2021 alone, its volume of business activities was approximately 3.7 billion euros and most of which were channeled in developing countries. Our development cooperation with Germany started in 1971, even before the reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the signing of agreements between our two countries in 1971. The areas of cooperation included microinsurance, climate change and biodiversity, agriculture, peace and development, security, school health and employment.
I shall focus on GIZ’s work in promoting pro-poor insurance in the Philippines and other developing countries in Asia. In order to address the growing need for risk protection of the impoverished people in the selected countries in the region, GIZ set up a dedicated program to provide the poor access to insurance services. Thus, the RFPI Asia was born to assist the governments of the Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam in extending affordable insurance protection to families with meager and irregular income. This insurance facility designed for low-income workers was denominated as “microinsurance” (MI). MI was embodied and defined in our 2013 Insurance Code (R.A. No. 10607) and conceived as a mechanism to reduce poverty in our country. RFPI Asia, in pursuit of its mandate, organized the Mutual Exchange Forum on Inclusive Insurance (MEFIN) with the support of all the insurance regulators of all the participating nations in 2013 to provide a platform for dialogue and knowledge exchange among the seven member countries and leading advocates of microinsurance. The historic meeting was held in Cebu City and I had the honor of serving as MEFIN’s founding Chairman. Our group jointly issued the Cebu Declaration, a first of its kind document, which proclaims the principles and objectives of MEFIN and our group’s commitment to uphold and pursue them.
The works of RFPI are divided in three phases. Phase I covered 2013-2015, the initial years of its existence. The Philippines had already completed the basic work on MI during this stage while most countries in the region had just started with their MI journey. For instance, in the case of Indonesia, RFPI and the local regulators worked on the grand design of MI to be adopted in the country. Likewise, the Microtakaful framework was developed. Mongolia formulated its own definition of MI while both Nepal and Thailand issued guidelines on the product development and distribution of MI in their respective countries. The Philippines concentrated on more advanced issues like the formulation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism (ADREM) to make litigation/dispute resolution of MI cases inexpensive. Rules and procedures for accreditation of mediators/conciliators were adopted followed by training of applicants for such positions. RFPI collaborated with the member countries to adopt the Methodology for Regulatory Impact Assessment to be applied across the region. During Phase II (2016-2018), several notable achievements were recorded. In our country, the Health MI Framework was approved. This became the model for other countries. Across the region, guidelines on the implementation of the principle of proportionality in product development, distribution and regulation was issued. Important papers and reports were published touching on MI studies conducted on several countries and Fact Sheets on new business models. Training manuals/guidebooks for MSMEs were published and circulated for the benefit of members. Under RFPI auspices, the first Regulatory Impact Assessment was conducted in several countries. The MEFIN website was developed and used to facilitate learning and knowledge exchange. The 3rd and final phase of the RFPI program covers 2019-2022. Several critical projects were undertaken with a few others still under process. Two parametric products for excess wind and excess rainfall were developed in the Philippines, together with enhancement of one product to cover climate and disaster risks. A Business Interruption Insurance for MSMEs was also developed in the Philippines. At the instance of the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry, there was an integration of DRI into the Business Resiliency Strategy for MSMEs. Vietnam strengthened its National Agriculture Insurance Program through research and studies, capacity building and policy recommendations. Likewise, the National Aquaculture Program of Indonesia was enhanced through feasibility study and capacity building. Increasing use of mobile applications and telemedicine apps for telehealth were encouraged and developed.
Under RFPI’s lead or initiative, much has been accomplished to expand the services of MI not only in our country but also in many parts of Asia. Our vulnerable populations have suffered from death, sickness, accident, fire, and other disasters, which have caused loss of income and serious economic dislocations. A recent report of the Commission on Audit has revealed that despite the colossal costs paid out by our national government to the beneficiaries of our Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) 90 percent of the 4.26 million beneficiaries are still below poverty level despite being covered for many years. Our government, which has finite resources, cannot sustain this. MI is a less expensive way to bail out the poor from poverty in a sustainable and inclusive way. As a former Insurance Commissioner who had partnered with the GIZ and RFPI during the MI’s formative years, I had seen how MI provided relief to the hapless victims of Yolanda and the many other calamities which devastated our poor people. No question that RFPI and its parent, GIZ, have been at the forefront of the efforts to expand MI across Asia. It has supported the regulators, the insurance industry and the MI community in promoting MI to shield our vulnerable population from the hazards they encounter in their daily lives.
Today marks the closing event of RFPI Asia to be held at the New Coast Hotel Manila. It will close its doors on December 31, 2022 after a decade of dedicated service to our country, other Asian countries and their people. RFPI is an inspiring journey that has changed the landscape of MI in the Philippines and Asia. It will close its operations in Asia but the GIZ Office in the Philippines will maintain its operation. GIZ’s other organ, Access to Inclusive Insurance for the Poor (Aii), will continue and take over the mission of RFPI. Now that the heavy lifting is done, we salute RFPI for its invaluable contributions to the cause of Mi. Our grateful hearts will not forget your seminal work to make insurance services accessible to our poor people.