Improving Access to Agricultural Insurance in the Casamance Region in Senegal

The project seeks to support the economic empowerment and resilience of women farmers in Senegal’s Casamance region by improving their access to agricultural insurance as a way to mitigate the impact of climate change. The project focuses on the availability of financial products and services tailored to the needs of women farmers and enhances their ability to access and use them. Project activities include : (1) Providing training and support to women farmers so they can access and use financial products and services including agricultural insurance; (2) building the capacity of grassroots cooperatives and regional financial institutions to tailor their range of products and services to the needs of women; (3) developing and implementing an innovative business model for distributing agricultural insurance to women and women’s groups; and (4) building the capacity of the Compagnie Nationale d’Assurance Agricole du Sénégal (CNAAS Senegal’s national agricultural insurance company) and national financial institutions to develop and provide products and services tailored to the specific needs of women. The project is being delivered by SOCODEVI with the help of two local partners the CNAAS and the Organisation de Formation et d’Appui au Développement (OFAD/Nafoore). The indirect beneficiaries are estimated at approximately 900 000 people making up the population of all the households to which the direct beneficiaries belong who represent 7 000 women members of 150 agricultural groups (GFVA) in the rural regions of Casamance.

The expected outcomes for this project include : (1) women farmers are more economically resilient; (2) grassroots cooperatives and groups are better at reducing barriers to women’s economic empowerment in the context of climate change; and (3) the Compagnie Nationale d’Assurance Agricole du Sénégal (CNAAS) and targeted national financial institutions are better at providing services tailored to the needs of women.