European Investment Bank Funds Climate-Risk Insurance for 210,000 Ethiopian Farmers
The European Investment Bank (EIB), through its development arm EIB Global, is providing a grant of up to €4 million to the World Food Programme (WFP). This funding aims to expand climate-risk microinsurance for approximately 210,000 smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. The initiative, announced during the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP17 in Mongolia, marks the EIB's first climate-risk insurance project. It is designed to protect farmers against crop and livestock losses resulting from adverse weather conditions and natural disasters. This grant complements an existing €110 million credit line from the EIB for the third phase of Ethiopia’s Rural Financial Intermediation Programme (RUFIP III), which is channeled through the Development Bank of Ethiopia to eligible rural finance institutions. The program will involve WFP developing and piloting an index-based microinsurance scheme in collaboration with private insurance companies, introduced via selected rural finance institution... 
