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Introduction

SIPA

Farmer

An Assessment Method to Evaluate Index Insurance Quality and Effectiveness

The assessment method is designed to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of index insurance programs across five key categories. These categories provide a structured framework to ensure a comprehensive evaluation covering structural, financial, communicative, and operational aspects of insurance programs. The framework is particularly tailored to address the unique challenges of index-based insurance, such as basis risk, limited farmer communication, and program transparency.

Categories

The five key categories are:

  1. Background of the Insurance Product - This section will qualitatively set the background of the insurance, what it aims to achieve, and what it’s meant to cover.

  2. Payout Value and Distribution - This section will quantitatively assess whether payouts are not only financially fair but also delivered at the right value and frequency to be useful for farmers.

  3. Alignment of Payouts with Farmer Losses - This section will quantitatively assess how accurately the chosen index (whether weather-based or area-yield) reflects the farmer’s experience of losses.

  4. Addressing Index Gaps - This section will check if insurers have ways to detect mismatches between the index and losses, and estimate what a potential additional premium would be to close the gap.

  5. Farmer Communication - The section will employ a rubric to assess the effectiveness of providers’ efforts to communicate with farmers regarding the insurance product, monitor product reception, and handle grievances.

Full Assessment with Verification Examples

The full assessment method can be found in the following Excel sheet. It houses the dashboard and verification tools with illustrative examples to guide users through the evaluation process.

🔗 Full Assessment Method Here

Contact

For inquiries regarding this assessment method, you may reach out to the SIPA Capstone team:

  • Kim Vidal - kbv2109@columbia.edu
  • Tya Budiyanti - hab2174@columbia.edu
  • Ganita - gl2858@columbia.edu
  • Neha Bais - nsb2174@columbia.edu
  • Fadah Almomen - fa2679@columbia.edu
  • Shivani Ekkanath - se2593@columbia.edu
  • Daniel Osgood (Advisor) - do2126@columbia.edu