Mr. Mathieu Dubreuil, e-mail: Mathieu.dubreuil@wfp.org

As of 2020, R4 reached over 200,000 households (about 1 M people) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Madagascar through a combination of four risk management strategies: improved resource management through asset creation (risk reduction); insurance (risk transfer); livelihoods diversification and microcredit (prudent risk taking); and savings (risk retention).

As of 2019, R4 reached over 87,000 farmers (about 450,000 people) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe through a combination of four risk management strategies: improved resource management through asset creation (risk reduction); insurance (risk transfer); livelihoods diversification and microcredit (prudent risk taking); and savings (risk reserves). In 2018, around US$ 1.5 million of insurance payouts were distributed through the initiative in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal and Zambia to compensate for weather-related losses.

Through its innovative integrated climate risk management approach, R4 enables the poorest farmers to access crop insurance by participating in risk reduction activities. Assets built through such activities – including WFP’s Food Assistance for Assets programmes – promote the resilience of farmers and their families by steadily decreasing vulnerability to disaster risks over time.

Video about R4 at its web-site.

When a shock hits, compensation for weather-related losses prevents farmers from having to take desperate measures such as selling productive assets, and stimulates faster recovery. By protecting farmers’ investments in case of a bad season, R4 enables them to invest in riskier but more remunerative enterprises, as well as in seeds, fertilizers and new technologies.

Evaluations show how R4 is helping improve farmers’ resilience. For example, in Ethiopia insured farmers save more than twice as much as those without any insurance, and they invest more in seeds, fertilizers and productive assets, such as plough oxen.

The initiative also has positive effects on gender equality. In Senegal, women claimed that they felt empowered as – in addition to having increased access to land, seeds and water for irrigation and drinking – they could benefit from training in numeracy, literacy and business.

To ensure long-term sustainability, R4 contributes to the creation of rural financial markets, by building the capacity of farmers, local insurance companies and micro-finance institutions and gradually supporting farmers to start paying for insurance in cash."