This chapter introduces and reviews WFP’s weather index-based insurance pilot schemes at both the macro and micro levels in Ethiopia and China. It argues that although index insurance is not a “one-size-fits-all” solution for risk management, it can – when combined with existing disaster risk reduction projects – make important, market-based contributions to sustainable safety nets and agricultural growth in the rural areas of developing countries. In collaboration with insurance companies, governments and agencies such as WFP can play crucial roles in enabling and facilitating the start up of such insurance interventions.
