Press Release: The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group and the Centre for Disaster Protection have entered into a partnership agreement to mutually promote technical collaboration on capacity building, research, and advocacy through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) jointly signed by the chief executives of both institutions.

Under the MoU, the parties will explore opportunities and leverage their respective core competencies to promote activities that would increase the quality and quantity of risk financing products and services towards improving African agriculture which has perennially suffered from low levels of public / private investments.

On signing the MoU, the United Nations Assistant- Secretary General / Group Director-General of the ARC Group, Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, complimented the Centre for Disaster Protection for its continued interest and confidence in the ARC mechanism as ‘world’s first development insurer’*.* He stated that “The cordial relationship we have established over the years, (with the Centre), have been mutually beneficial to the pursuit of our common objectives to assist high risk, vulnerable countries in making better risk management decisions. We are very optimistic that, by working together, we can better assist our Members to strengthen their disaster risk management systems for ensuring food security and achieving resilient livelihoods”, added Mr. Diong.

In line with the MoU, the institutions will also seek to undertake common activities to promote advocacy on disaster risk financing solutions, and influence the multilateral system to support risk reduction, mitigation, and adaptation.

The African Risk Capacity and the Centre for Disaster Protection both operate on similar principles that the likelihood of disaster events can be quantifiably predicted; and that their impact can be largely mitigated through well-orchestrated contingency plans that save lives and livelihoods.

Daniel Clarke, Director of the Centre for Disaster Protection, said: “Having established a strong collaborative relationship with ARC, we gladly welcome the opportunity to consolidate our partnership. Identifying, planning for, and financing disasters before they strike saves lives, reduces suffering, and protects livelihoods and economies. Working with ARC to strengthen and scale up development insurance ensures our combined approach is African-led, placing at-risk communities at the heart of our efforts to support countries in better predicting and paying for disasters.”

The Centre for Disaster Protection brings countries together with international development, humanitarian, and private sector organisations to change how the world prepares, pays for, and responds to disasters. It works with countries and their partners to support them to own, plan and finance the risks they face with impartial technical assistance and capacity building. It collaborates with global partners to find solutions, build robust evidence, offer independent advice and advocate to change how disasters are managed by the international system.

By merging the orthodox approaches of disaster relief and quantification with innovative instruments of risk pooling and risk transfer, ARC’s disaster response system efficiently meets the needs of insured vulnerable communities at the onset of the peril before they begin to resort to negative coping mechanisms. This critically serves to providing an important step towards creating a sustainable African-led strategy for managing extreme climate risks.

About ARC Group:

African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group consists of ARC Agency and ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd). ARC Agency was established in 2012 as a Specialized Agency of the African Union to help the Member States improve their capacities to better plan, prepare and respond to weather-related disasters. ARC Ltd is a mutual insurance facility providing risk transfer services to the Member States through risk pooling and access to reinsurance markets. ARC was established on the principle that investing in preparedness and early warning through an innovative financing approach is highly cost-effective and can save upward of four dollars for every dollar invested ex-ante.

With the support of the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, France, the European Union, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the United States, ARC assists the AU Member States in reducing the risk of loss and damage caused by extreme weather events affecting Africa’s populations by providing, through sovereign disaster risk insurance, targeted responses to natural disasters in a more timely, cost-effective, objective and transparent manner. ARC is now using its expertise to help tackle some of the other most significant threats faced by the continent, including floods and outbreaks & epidemics.

Since 2014, 62 policies have been signed by the Member States for cumulative insurance coverage of US$719 million for the protection of 72 million vulnerable populations in participating countries