Gender-smart public and private investments and grants in Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) hold significant potential to strengthen the resilience of developing countries and to protect the lives and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable women and men, and their families from the impact of disasters. This guidance note specifically focuses on the deployment of development finance with a gender lens in CDRFI-related investment and grant making opportunities to fill an existing gap in practical resources on this topic. It is intended for Members of the InsuResilience Global Partnership (IGP) and the broader CDRFI community that are involved in the financing (public and private investing and grant making), design and implementation of gender-smart CDRFI solutions.
Gender-lens investing in CDRFI is a sub-set of gender-smart climate finance, which lies at the nexus of gender finance and climate finance. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognises that gender-smart climate finance considers “the differences between men and women in what and how we finance”. Gender-lens investing in CDRFI solutions involves incorporating a gender analysis in the process of directing CDRFI investments and grants into activities or organisations which support climate and disaster resilience building and risk protection. It is an approach that can provide financial protection and build the climate resilience of the people most vulnerable to climate change and disasters.
There is no standard approach to gender-lens investing more generally and specifically in CDRFI. It is commonly agreed that one or more strategies or ‘gender lenses’ may be applied by investors and grant makers as they apply an intentional gender focus in their investments across asset classes using public and private capital. This may be in a specific CDRFI investment or grant, or across an entire investment or grant making portfolio. These commonly applied strategies, often referred to as gender-lenses, can be adapted to the field of CDRFI, within the wider framework of gender-smart climate finance.
These strategies include: investing in CDRFI-related businesses or solutions that are: 1) led by women; 2) provide CDRFI products and services that are intentionally designed to close the financial protection gap and address gender-specific climate and disaster related vulnerabilities; 3) promote gender diversity in the workforce; and/or 4) provide specific support and opportunities for women and women-led or owned businesses in the CDRFI value chain (e.g., women insurance sales agents and women insurance distributors).
