Demand Research in East Timor

I recently went on a mission to East Timor to work with my colleague, Carol Stewart, who is the ILO Fellow placed there to develop the microinsurance market.  East Timor.  What can I say.  From the moment I got off the plane I immediately liked it.  Mopeds with 5 people, buses with children handing out the door, not a road pot-hole free.  Brilliant.  The country has got a raw feel to it.  A place that is currently undeveloped, but has to potential to boom.  That said, it was plain to see there is a lot of development work that needs to be done there.

But enough rambling, to the point of the post:  Whilst on the ground, Carol took me on a demand research session she was doing in the districts with members from Moris Rasik, an MFI that operates in East Timor.  The objective of this demand research was to find out what risks the ladies faced, and how they manage those risks.  This would inform us as to whether there is a role for microinsurance to play.

Carol had lined everything up.  Intrepreter, check.  Contact at Moris Rasik, check.  Transport, check.  Time, venue, check check!  A seamless excursion.

Well for those of you who have worked in developing countries, which I am sure is quite a few, I'm sure you will be in no way surprised to find out that "seamless" is not exactly how the excursion went!

Firstly, the interpreter didn't show up at the pick-up location.  He claimed there wasn't any taxi's to take him there, so we had to drive through rush hour traffic (it's pretty aweful in Dili) to collect him, and then back through it again to get out of the city.

Secondly, the contact wasn't where we said we would meet him.  No sign.  We take out our mobile phones to give him a call, and (thirdly!) there was no phone coverage.  Timor Telecom was off getting a cup of tea.  We then drove around, asking Timorese if they would know where this meeting might be.  "Up the street", "Keep going", "Past the church".  Finally we made it there, over an hour late.  But it doesn't end there...

Moris Rasik's business model is based on the Gurmain model.  They lend to groups of ladies, and the groups are responsible for the repayments.  Thus if any one lady doesn't make the repayment, the others have to cover the cost.  By structuring the loans this way, the groups of ladies in effect self-select, which improves experience for the MFI - they ensure that the people in the group are trustworthy and will repay their loans, otherwise they will have to.

However on this day in question, one lady didn't show.  The rep from the MFI asked where she was, the rest of the ladies didn't know.  The meeting can't start until all members of the group are there, so two of the ladies went off to try to find her.

30 mins  later...  No sign.

1 hour later...  No sign...

1 hour 30 mins later, finally!  They came back, the other lady wasn't to be found.  They went to her house, doors and windows closed, and (unsurprisingly) no one answered their calls...

From other experiences I've heard of people conducting demand research it appears that what happened above is the norm.  You should expect things to go wrong, if they do it's as expected.  If all goes according to plan, well that is akin to a blue moon!

Once we got everyone present we conducted the focus group.  Below is a picture of Carol explaining risk to them via picture cards.  The ladies are enthralled, the kids and intrigued and most importantly, everyone is having a good time.  It was a special moment.

Attending this demand research session was one of the best things I've done to date on my fellowship.  To see the practicalities of conducting a demand research session was invaluable experience for me working in development.  I encountered firsthand the issues faced when trying to do such sessions and what it is actually like to discuss risk with people in rural areas.

It was inspiring to meet and talk to these ladies who are trying to work their way out of poverty.  Not just to read about them, but to actually meet them.  In person.  They were setting up new business, borrowing money from MFI’s, repaying the money and using further funds to expand their business while at the same time raising a family.

I also saw the real desire they had for insurance products.  When Carol explained the enhanced funeral product to them, you could see on their faces that they really wanted the product.  “Where can we buy” they asked.  This is what working in microinsurance is all about.  These are the people we are truly trying to help.  And each time when I feel frustrated, infuriated or defeated in the future, I will (try to!) remember the Timorese ladies.

Report to follow on the results of the demand research.  I will post a link to it up here when it is made available.

Fiji Microinsurance - In Pictures

It's been a while since I've posted.  Moving to Fiji, settling into the new job, trying to push microinsurance (MI) in Fiji, are the excuses I (know i shouldn't but do) use.

Giving that I'm based in Fiji, I thought it would be good to share some facts and figures on the country that are relevant to MI here.  So here we go:

What does Fiji look like?  Well it is an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean, roughly 2000 km northeast of New Zealand’s North Island.  The two main islands are Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, where the vast majority of the population lie.

However, when you look at population split by Urban and Rural, you can see that the rural population is far more spread out across provinces than the Urban.  This means that access microinsurance clients in rural areas will be logistically challenging, not to mention all the other challenges of microinsurance (client education, good product development, marketing ..etc.) 

It's GDP has bobbed up and down over the last 10 years and it's GDP per capita still lags behind many other pacific islands and developed nations.  Thus the people generally have low levels of income, are vulnerable and so there is an argument for MI:

Fiji is multi-ethnic with indigenous Fijians now accounting for 57% of the population and Indo-Fijians about 38 percent.   The remaining Fijians are Europeans and people of mixed Fijian-European ancestry, Chinese, Pacific Islanders, and others.  There has however been high emigration from Fiji in recent years, mainly in the Indo-Fijian ethnicity.

To sum up:

Fiji is a load of islands, with a diverse population (outside of urban areas) spread all over the place, who have low levels of income!  For MI this represents a challenge. 

But! There is one thing that is worth mentioning that makes Fiji a great place to work towards developing good MI products:  The people here are quite simply joyous.  There are many trates of the Fijian people I could rattle off here, however I will just list my favourite: 

I have never been in a place before where the people are so quick to laugh.  They laugh all the time.  Good morning, good day, good evening, you end up laughing.  Go to the cinema... Oh my - you get raucous laughter (even when you really aren't supposed to!).  You end up joining in!  To quote Mark Twain, against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.  Never has this been so true as in Fiji.  And that is why this is a great place to work.  The laughter is everywhere, joyous, it's infectious. And what better people to work with, for and in aid of then people who laugh?