BY EKHATOR RUTH ENIYE
The United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) has received CAD 12 million (US$8.9 million) from the Government of Canada to support WFP’s Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) Replica initiative, aimed at protecting two million vulnerable people and enhancing gender-sensitive protection from catastrophic climate risks in Africa.
This contribution will enable WFP to expand ARC Replica coverage, an innovative insurance policy offered by ARC Ltd. to humanitarian organisations to finance emergency response after climate-related disasters.
Over the next four years, WFP will support up to ten African governments facing high risks of climate shocks in designing and customizing the insurance policies, improving disaster preparedness and operational readiness, as well as ensuring responses include considerations on how extreme weather events can have different impacts on women, men, girls and boys, to better address the climate risks impacting vulnerable people.
“WFP’s knowledge of operating in fragile environments, close coordination with governments, expertise in hazard model design and experience in providing gender-sensitive humanitarian assistance will further reinforce the financial protection offered by ARC to vulnerable communities,” says Gernot Laganda, Director of WFP’s Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Service. “WFP is grateful for this contribution from Global Affairs Canada that will allow us to continue this important work.”
Since 2019, WFP has paid US$28.3 million in premiums for a coverage of US$169 million protecting 5.25 million people in six African countries with insurance policies from ARC. To date, WFP has received nine payouts totalling US$25.6 million, which provided cash and food assistance, nutrition support and creation of assets like compost trenches and aqua ponds to more than 790,000 people.
ARC, composed of ARC Agency, a specialized agency of the African Union, and the ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd), offers financial solutions to help African Union Member States manage climate-related disaster risk.
Through this collaborative effort, the Government of Canada, WFP and ARC are determined to enhance financial protection to climate extremes and address the pressing challenges faced by vulnerable communities in Africa.