INSURED Toolkit | Engaging smallholder farmer communities to develop index-based insurance: Building buy-in and a sense of ownership

Engaging communities and enabling them to contribute to designing a valuable insurance product can be an effective way to create trust, a sense of ownership and to overcome barriers that often leave rural development initiatives unsustainable after pilot stages. This knowledge brief explores the benefits of and rationale for community engagement in index insurance initiatives, with examples from a pilot project in rural Ethiopia.