From June 9-12, the "Disaster Risk Insurance Academy Impact Program 2026" brought together close to 40 reform champions – senior government officials, central bank representatives, regulators, and local insurance industry leaders – from 17 countries for a conversation that is at the heart of disaster risk finance: narrowing the insurance protection gap. The four-day Learning Week was co-organized by the World Bank Group and the Insurance Development Forum, with support from the Global Shield Financing Facility. The program was built on the premise that when governments learn from one another and engage with the latest private sector innovations, the path from pilot to scale becomes clearer and more achievable. 

 

Watch highlights from the event: 

 

Over the four days, delegates learned from each other's experience designing and implementing disaster risk finance and insurance programs, and engaged with the (re)insurance industry and other DRF stakeholders on best practices around leveraging data, regulatory structures, and innovative financing mechanism to unlock greater risk capital from insurance and capital market solutions.  A key highlight was engagement with UK's domestic risk pools, FloodRe and PoolRe, who demonstrated how public-private insurance solutions can successfully expand access to and affordability of terrorism and flood protection for households and businesses. A defining feature of the World Bank Group Academy program was structured goal setting, with each country identifying its disaster risk financing objectives, implementation steps, and success measures to support progress from learning to action.

 

 

Disasters and climate shocks generate an estimated US$180-US$200 billion in annual average losses globally, with losses concentrated in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) where insurance penetration remains low. In most EMDEs, less than 20 percent of disaster losses are covered by insurance. This protection gap places fiscal pressure on governments, disrupts service delivery, and undermines progress on poverty reduction, agricultural development, and job creation.

 

 A consistent barrier to narrowing the insurance protection gap in EMDE’s is low technical and financing capacities that disaster risk finance and insurance solutions need. The Learning Week 2026 was demand-driven and tailored to address capacity gaps, that can over time enable countries to have more comprehensive coverage from natural disaster losses. The program has been designed to ensure longer-term engagement of participants, including through shared resources and a wider community, so the momentum does not stop. Countries engaged in earlier capacity development efforts are now translating learning into action - advancing legislation and regulation, and designing insurance solutions for protection of farmers, households, small businesses, sovereign budgets and public assets.

 

Please write to Sumati Rajput (srajput1@worldbank.org) or Eleanor White (ewhite6@worldbank.org) for more information on the event.