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.
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.
