As Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) mechanisms expand and scale, attention is turning to their design features, including payout triggers, distribution channels, data systems, and, critically, criteria of gender-responsiveness.
For International Women’s Day 2026,
Dr Astrid Zwick, Head of the GIZ Programme at the Global Shield Secretariat, reflects on what has changed in the CDRFI arena and what more needs to be done to unequivocally embed gender considerations structurally within the CDRFI system.
Astrid has over a decade of experience working on CDRFI. Under her leadership at the InsuResilience Secretariat and engagement in the InsuResilience Gender Working Group, she has contributed and guided efforts to advance gender integration in CDRFI policies and programmes.
At the outset, gender featured prominently in climate policy discussions, but it was not systematically integrated into CDFRI instruments. In practice, tools such as sovereign risk transfer schemes or microinsurance rarely applied sex-disaggregated data, gender analysis, or explicit inclusion criteria. As a result, coverage models and delivery systems often reflected existing inequalities rather than addressing them.
The main challenge was not a lack of awareness. It was the absence of operational standards and accountability. Institutions lacked clear guidance on integrating gender into risk modelling, product design, and monitoring frameworks. Gender was often referenced in proposals, but there were few requirements to demonstrate results.
With support from Global Affairs Canada, the Centre of Excellence on Gender-Smart Solutions was launched to address this gap. The aim was to provide practical guidance and tools to help institutions move from general commitments to concrete application by embedding gender considerations into policy design, financial instruments, and implementation processes.
There has been steady progress in integrating gender into CDRFI. Gender was often treated as a cross-cutting issue, reflected mainly in policy language – good intentions, but implementation lagging behind.
There are also practical examples emerging. For example, initiatives such as the Mahila Housing Trust launched a pioneering parametric heat index insurance to protect low-income, informal-sector women from income loss due to extreme heat.
The Centre of Excellence is contributing to this shift toward gender-responsive CDRFI by providing guidance notes and toolkits and facilitating technical assistance to help institutions put their gender commitments into practice. For example, the CoE, as part of implementation support for the Global Shield against Climate Risk, facilitated capacity-building for CDRFI stakeholders in Costa Rica and The Gambia on gender entry points for developing CDRFI policies and opportunities for gender-responsive implementation.
The InsuResilience Gender Working Group set a good precedent by advocating for gender-responsive CDRFI. It has now evolved into a Community of Practice on Gender and CDRFI, bringing together actors in this ecosystem to reflect and learn from one another on gender-smart innovations being piloted, and to encourage knowledge transfer across regions.
One key challenge is moving from guidance to consistent implementation. While many facilities now reference gender requirements, these are not always embedded in funding conditions, product design standards, or performance metrics.
Data remains a critical constraint. Many CDRFI mechanisms still rely on limited or non-disaggregated datasets, which affects how risks are assessed, how target groups are defined, and how outcomes are measured. Without reliable sex-disaggregated data, it is difficult to determine who is benefiting from financial protection.
Structural barriers also continue to shape access. Legal and financial constraints, such as limited access to land titles, identification, or formal financial services, affect women’s ability to participate in insurance schemes or benefit from risk financing mechanisms. These factors are often beyond the direct control of CDRFI actors but strongly influence results.
At the same time, there are clear opportunities. Digital delivery and mobile payments offer new ways to reach underserved groups. For example, ACRE Africa, a partner in the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS), uses automated weather stations in Rwanda to trigger index insurance payouts directly to farmers’ mobile accounts, providing rapid financial support to rural women and remote smallholders.
For practitioners, the priority is to embed gender considerations across the full cycle of CDRFI design and implementation; from planning and product design to delivery, monitoring and evaluation. This requires continuous adjustment based on evidence and results until gender-smart approaches become an intrinsic element of how CDRFI systems operate.
© 2026 GIZ
