Microinsurance Workshops on Performance Indicators

Microfact –as part of its involvement in the Microinsurance Network- designed different workshops on key performance indicators for microinsurance. These highly interactive workshops aim to improve the skill-set of microinsurance managers for the analysis and interpretation of financial performance ratios.

Objectives

The objective of this training is to

Strengthen awareness towards performance analysis and risk management;
Enhance the skills and capacity of management in interpreting ratios, analysing financial trends, positioning themselves within the sector and identifying key areas of risk to mitigate;
Sensitize microinsurers about the importance of performance monitoring as a tool for their daily management, decision‐making and business planning process;
Promote transparency and exchange of experiences between participating microinsurers;

Content

The 3 day training course covers the following topics:

Financial statements for microinsurance
Measuring Performance in Microinsurance: The key priniciples
Measuring Performance in Microinsurance: The key indicators
The MI Factsheet : a user-friendly tool to compute ratios and create graphs
Monitoring and Benchmarking
Performance indicators

A participant testifies

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the very useful and interactive microinsurance performance indicators workshop.

During the workshop, I first learnt the importance of data separation and keeping of clean records. I could compute the ratios but what did they imply? That was the second and most important lesson I learnt.

I also learnt that the indicators will tell us a lot about the market, its understanding of microinsurance and specific products, and also how efficient our systems and processes are.

Anne Kamau, Underwriter-Microinsurance, CIC Insurance company, Nairobi Kenya.

Training method

Depending on the composition and level of the participants, the workshop is either built on case studies or uses the participants’ own data. Both modules have distinctive didactical features so as to generate:

Interactivity: Results for each microinsurer's performance indicator is illustrated through graphs built from the financial data provided by microinsurers or selected case studies. The graphs show each microinsurer’s performance in comparison to the current situation and that of their peers.
Participation and exchange: Participants are invited to give their interpretation and to comment on the graphs in the light of their specific operational context and institutional organization, and to share/exchange their experiences and practices.
Putting learning into practice: Regular practical exercises and analysis of trends are also part of the course. A final case study encompassing all the notions reviewed is carried out at the end of the workshop.

Theoretical and practical basics

The microinsurance performance indicators toolkit forms the basis of this training: the handbook and the microinsurance factsheet. Participants should read the handbook before the training and will fill out the factsheet with their own organisational data, which will then be discussed during the training.

Target audience

The organisations should already have a minimum of 2 years experience in microinsurance and offer microinsurance product(s). Within each organization, we target the financial decision maker. Typically this is the financial or general manager. This does not apply to training institutions.

This course is intended for an audience that has some basic familiarity with accounting terms and financial statements. Accounting principles and financial statements won't be reviewed.

Microinsurance organisations interested in taking part are required to fill in the provided factsheet before the workshop. The figures are used by the trainer to create illustrative graphs of the related ratios, on which to base discussions. The data are solely used for the purpose of the workshop and are otherwise kept confidential.

Other modules

Apart from this module, different modules are also available:

Introduction: Performance Indicators in Microinsurance for support organisations, focus on interpretation of key indicators and importance of key principles, (1 day)
TOT: Training for local microinsurance networks and training institutions to deliver training courses (4 days)

Logistics

The workshop is organized jointly by a local partner and Microfact. The distribution of tasks between Microfact and the partner for the workshop coordination is: Microfact provides the content and moderates the workshop

The partner promotes the workshop among selected institutions of the country/region and is in charge of all organisational aspects before, during and after the workshop.

A list of tasks to complete is available in the collaboration contract established between the partner and Microfact for the amount of budget allocated and agreed beforehand between the two parties.

The average cost for a 3‐day workshop is EUR 1.000 per participant. This covers all costs (training material, catering, accommodation, transport costs,…). A minimum contribution of 100 EUR/participant is required.