The Start Network has joined a consultancy assignment to explore how structured risk management, using instruments such as insurance, could provide an important set of tools for protecting education investments.
Crises disrupt the delivery of education and yet education receives less than 2% of humanitarian aid funding. This undermines the ability of education systems to sustain the gains made through development initiatives.
For example, the 2015 earthquake in Nepal caused $313 million damage to the education sector. The Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone closed schools for nearly nine months between 2014 and 2015. In Somalia, years of civil war destroyed or closed 75% of public schools, and two generations of children have grown up without access to basic education.
To investigate the potential of structured risk management, including risk transfer instruments to protect investments in education, Global Partnership for Education has commissioned a consultancy. The consultancy will run over the next four months and will be led by Willis Towers Watson with technical input from the Start Network team and the ODI.
The project will;
- Identify the main causes of disruption to education and quantify their impact;
- Investigate the applicability of existing catastrophe risk models and risk transfer programs to education; and
- Explore the feasibility of political risk insurance for education systems.
The Start team is keen to ensure member have the opportunity to get involved, so to find out more, please don’t hesitate to contact emily.montier@startnetwork.org.