Myanmar Disaster Risk Financing (MYDRIF)
October 2018 - December 2020 | Myanmar
Beneficiaries
Government agents at the Government of Myanmar (at the national and regional level). Vulnerable communities in Myanmar.
Goal
Develop a disaster risk financing strategy for the government of Myanmar to better manage weather risks

Project Overview

In order to aid the government of Myanmar in dealing with various types of Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) aspects in an efficient and effective way, this project endeavors to develop a DRF strategy for Myanmar and in the Ayeyarwady region, and to increase the country’s/region’s capacity on DRF, especially focusing on government agents. The main objectives of the project are to develop a risk-layered approach by:

1. Providing a suitable blend of financing instruments and structures with a particular focus on risk transfer through insurance schemes;

2. Providing a review of the enabling environment and provision of recommendations to address challenges for DRM on the regulatory and policy level;

3. Develop capacity building and awareness raising activities on DRF for public and private actors in the financial and insurance sector.

Supporting the government of Myanmar in developing their DRF strategy will increase their capacities to deal with a number of climate-related threats. It will support them by improving financial safety net approaches to vulnerable people to enable them to have access to financial services covering against weather extremes. This presents an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the call (by both the Secretary General as well as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat) to finding ways of how to crowd-in more private sector actors into actively supporting climate change adaptation-related efforts in developing countries.

In April 2019, the project team finalized the Enabling Environments report which reviewed the current DRF landscape and enabling environment in Myanmar, looking at both public and private sector financing options – with a particular focus on financial sector solutions – including risk transfer.

A risk-layered structure was proposed for the stimulation, development, and implementation of financially sustainable and scalable DRF strategies and solutions. The assessment identified opportunities and gaps for enhancing the enabling environment for public sector DRF instruments and financial sector solutions, including insurance as a key mechanism for risk transfer.

After the  fourth and fifth missions in November 2019 and February 2020 to discuss with the relevant Ministry Departments the objectives, structure and scope of a Disaster Risk Financing Strategy for Myanmar, the team collected enough feedback to draft the DRF Strategy and table it to the Government for their feedback.

The government is currently in discussion with ADB and Frankfurt School to devise a work plan adding to the current project phase, with the aim to operationalize an implementation plan for the DRF strategy towards 2021.


Our Project Partners

MCII partnered with the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for this project