Programme for Sustainable Economic Development in Ghana: Promoting Insurance in Ghana

This case study provides an overview of the Promoting Insurance in Ghana (PromIGH) initiative with a focus on its approach and achievements so far. The project was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and it seeks to improve access to and the usage of insurance products by low-income households and small-scale enterprises. The study suggests that even though people in the informal sector are particularly vulnerable to various kinds of risks, they are typically excluded from the formal insurance market. Hence, increased access to insurance is a key tenet of financial inclusion and social protection policy. Key achievements of the PromIGH project include:

• Through the project’s support, the national regulator in Ghana has enforced a new legal and regulatory framework that is largely compliant to the international Insurance Core Standards;
• PromIGH has helped develop enhanced capacities among microinsurance practitioners which has helped increase outreach and market penetration;
• Since five years, the project has supported promising insurance providers in fostering institutional development, business viability, and market development;
• PromIGH has helped agencies like the National Insurance Commisssion and the Ghana Insurers’ Association use broad spectre of measures and instruments tested and proofed as suitable to increase insurance awareness amongst the low-income population in Ghana.