Recursos

The most common type of biogas system, and the most widely adopted in China and India, is a fixed dome system. Its construction requires skilled technical expertise and complex logistics, making installation expensive and time-consuming. Fixed dome systems are permanent installations, so secure land tenure is a prerequisite. These challenges make it difficult to adopt fixed dome systems in developing countries, particularly in Africa. As a result, many systems have failed and adoption rates have been low.

Another type of biogas system, manufactured in Kenya, is Flexi Biogas, a flexible above- ground system that is simpler and less costly to build and operate. This system does not require agitation and the digester is not a sealed tank but simply a 6m x 3m plastic bag made of PVC tarpaulin.
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Over 50 experts from more than 20 countries convened in Salzburg, Austria, in November 2011 for a special Dialogue for Action meeting entitled Transforming Agricultural Development and Production in Africa: Closing Gender Gaps and Empowering Rural Women in Policy and Practice. Designed to accelerate rural and agricultural development in Africa, the meeting focused on investment in women.

It was organized by the Salzburg Global Seminar (SGS) with support from the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)/Belgian Fund for Food Security (BFFS) Joint Programme. This report aims to reflect the complexity of the discussions that took place during the event and the outcome of those discussions.

This document is intended to aid delivery channels, microfinance providers in particular, in working with insurance companies to develop successful microinsurance products for the low-income market. 

A systematic new-product development process is crucial to the success of microinsurance products for many reasons, including: Saving money – by maximizing the potential for product success; Saving management and staff time – by ensuring, within reason, that the product has market demand, and by working out staff and systems issues early in the process, when it is easier and cheaper to make changes; Generating goodwill in one’s market – by offering products that will not have to be withdrawn or substantially altered once they are offered throughout the market. The process outlined in this manual will help microinsurance developers create successful microinsurance products. ‘Success’ means meeting the needs of the three major parties in the microinsurance relationship: low-income policyholders, the insurer and delivery channels.

This manual is intended as an aid to microinsurance institutions. It presents a technique called ‘process mapping’ that can support institutions in self-analysis by assisting them in understanding, developing and improving business processes. Although the concepts presented may be used for many types of projects and processes, this manual was specifically developed as a supplement to Microinsurance product development for microfinance providers (McCord 2012).

The manual describes how a process map can be drawn, analysed and adapted for the microinsurance sector. It offers practical guidance about which processes to concentrate on, and guides the reader through the task of improving these processes, first on paper and then in practice. For more information please click on the link below.