Insuring Against Famine
Can commercial practices like risk management prevent famine? The new manager of the World Food Programme thinks so and is turning to business to revolutionise aid.
"Before, the entire agency worked on a crisis happening", explains World Food Programme manager, Richard Wilcox. When disaster strikes, NGOs hawk round begging bowls. Only when funds are in can food be flown to the stricken areas. It's an expensive, inefficient way of operating. Wilcox wants to prevent humanitarian disasters striking in the first place. His latest idea is taking out weather insurance policies on behalf of Ethiopia's subsistence farmers. In exchange for a premium paid by the WFP, insurance companies would pay out as soon as rains fail, not just when people start starving. It's hoped ideas like this will end the ad hoc nature of aid.
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