VIMO SEWA SEWA

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VIMO SEWA SEWAS MICROINSURANCE PROGRAMME FOR
WOMEN WORKERS OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY
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SEWA - A trade union of 1.1 million women
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SELF EMPLOYED WOMENS ASSOCIATION
Work security
Health care
Income security
Childcare
Full Employment
Insurance
Social security
Housing
Food security
Pension
Economically
Individually
Self Reliance
Collectively
Decision making capabilty
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History of VIMO SEWA

• Started in 1992 from SEWA Bank
• Collaborated with insurance companies from start.
• Need based composite package for women
• Initially insured 7000 members of SEWA
• Evolved according to the needs of insured

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Evolution of the Programme

• 1992 Inception
• 1993 Husbands life insurance
  introduced
• 1994 Delinked health insurance from ins. Co.
• 1998 Decentralisation, delinked for asset ins.

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Evolution of the Programme (cont.)

• 1999 A separate, autonomous unit, Vimo SEWA
  formed, plan for insurance cooperative
• 2000 Husbands health insurance started,
  expansion out of Gujarat
• 2001 High increase in membership, linkages with
  insurance co. again for non life ins.
• 2002 Computerisation started

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Evolution of the Programme (cont.)

• 2003 Tie ups with partners started
• Action Research Started with LSHTM
• Organised National level
  microinsurance workshop
• 2004 Children health insurance introduced
• Tie ups with other NGOs
• 2005 Developed in house S/W

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Evolution of the Programme (cont.)

• 2006 Cashless system introduced in the
  city
• 2007 Quarterly collection started
• 2008 Social security teams were
  integrated
• Monthly collection started
• Claims servicing was fully
  computerized

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Reaching The Poor

• Member VIMO SEWA Insurance Cos
• Education Product Design
• Marketing Risk Carrier
• Claims servicing
• Data maintenance
• Research and monitoring
• Policy advocacy

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Outreach of VIMO SEWA

• 14 districts in Gujarat
• 9 states in India
• 5 NGO Partners

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Current membership

• Women 63,386
• Men 19,252
• Children 18,926
• Total 1,01,564

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Current Products of VIMO SEWA

• Life
• Health
• House and Assets
• Accident
• Rainfall
• 17 schemes

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Premium Collection

• House-to-house
• Through self-help groups
• Annual quarterly monthly

Fixed deposit Annual pay
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Claims servicing

• Member VIMO SEWA Insurance Company

Aagewan (local leader/insurance promoter)

• Prompt reimbursement

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Claims Payout -1992-2008
Product No of Claimants Amount Paid in Rs.
Life 6,373 3,05,55,110
Health 27,562 4,03,70,928
Asset 17,596 1,98,39,473
Total 51,531 9,07,65,511
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Lessons Learned

• Working with Insurance Cos
• Life LIC, AVIVA,OMKM, Bajaj Allianze
• General UIIC, NIA, NIC, ICICI, Reliance
• Effective Tools for collaboration with Insurance
  Cos
• Credibility of the organisation
• Systems and mechanisms
• Human resources
• Transparency

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Lessons Learned (cont.)

• Life simple term policy is easy to
  operate
• Endowment product requires long term
  commitment, complex
• Health Linkage with health programme enhances
  the viability of the programme
• It creates demand for government health services
• It increases health seeking behavior amongst poor
  specially women

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Lessons Learned (cont.)

• Insurance is an essential economic support to
  workers during crises. In sixteen years, 51,531
  women got over Rs. 9.07 crores by way of claims.

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Lessons Learned (cont.)

• Need based, affordable, bundled products
• Community based doorstep and one window quality
  service
• Linkages with other services and economic
  activities
• Linking insurance to other financial services
  (savings and credit) promotes long-term insurance
  coverage

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Lessons Learned (cont.)

• Insurance by and for workers, encourages their
  organizing and contributes to their economic
  security.
• A combination of increased outreach (especially
  to families and entire communities), increased
  renewals and cost containment leads to viability.

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Challenges

• 1. Viability which depends on
• Increasing Outreach
• Spreading risk (other states),
• Family coverage, deepening
• Cost reduction
• 2. Education
• 3. Product development
• Balance between social and business objective

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Future Action

• Increase outreach
• Work with MFIs, NGO partners
• Partner with governments health programme.
  (RSBY)
• Multi-state cooperative (VimoSEWA) with reduced
  capital requirement

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THANK YOU
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SEWA
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