Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) provide credit and savings products that help low income households earn income or build savings that in turn can help reduce the risk of natural or medical catastrophes. However, many catastrophes can cause significant hardship and deplete any economic gains made thru Microfinance programs - furthering the poverty cycle. 
Enter Microinsurance. Microinsurers are providing different forms of insurance for life, health, property, disability, agriculture, etc. Traditionally, poor households couldn't afford standard insurance programs - even if they actually had local access to this service. But with microinsurance products, they can pay a small premium for limited coverage in the event of losses and better manage their risk. There are many players offering microinsurance such as MFIs, NGOs, local community organisations, mutuals (all linked to regulated insurance companies) and increasing activity from large commercial providers. Swiss Re just announced an initiative to offer African farmers coverage against droughts ruining their crop harvests. The program aims to provide protection against adverse weather conditions for up to 400,000 people in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.
GIMI, the Global Information on MicroInsurance organisation recently published an interesting report outlining how microinsurance works entitled "The Landscape of Microinsurance in the World's 100 Poorest Countries." Some good news that emerges from the landscape survey is that microinsurance for the world's poor is growing fast, with most of its recent growth coming from the private sector. The microinsurers surveyed predicted at least 10% growth over the following year and 100% growth over five years. The report is also for download at the MicroInsurance Centre website - they provide an interesting synopsis of findings.

supporting, is to look at or commission a rating report that the leading firms produce utilizing their lengthy due-diligence process conducted to develop the ratings. These rating reports are used by many folks in the sector, primarily the investment funds focused on offering debt and equity to MFIs. See our
