The living situation of the poor shapes their demand for microinsurance. They are usually self-employed in the informal sector, illiterate and not familiar with the concept of insurance, and they often live in rural areas with weak infrastructure. Fair insurance services have the potential to enable the rural and urban poor to mitigate the effects of shocks that threaten their lives, productivity, and assets. They can help prevent emergencies from depleting poor people's savings and other assets, or getting more indebted. Insurance is of particular relevance in economically difficult times, when millions of people across the world are losing their jobs because of the financial and economic crisis, a development that is increasing the pressure on labour markets and social security systems. Challenges lie at all levels of the financial system and need to be addressed in a concerted way by private and public stakeholders. 

Dr. Brigitte Klein
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH
Head of the Sector Project Financial Systems Development on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ)
Eschborn, Germany
Brigitte.Klein@gtz.de

Martina Wiedmaier-Pfister 
Consultant for GTZ
Sector Project Financial Systems Development on behalf of BMZ
Rottenburg, Germany
wiedmaier-pfister@t-online.de