Doing more with less has been the motto of 2025 among development practitioners committed to gender-inclusive approaches to Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI). Despite the intensifying climate crisis, with more frequent, and severe extreme events[1]. The prevailing political and economic winds have led to a sharp reduction in Official Development Assistance (ODA). International Development Assistance from governments fell by 7.1% in real terms in 2024 compared to 2023.[2] This context has challenged implementers of gender-smart CDRFI approaches at all levels to optimise resources and work smarter to achieve gender equitable results. Fortunately, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) has maintained its support to the Technical Advisory Facility (TAF) at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Gender-Smart Solutions, and its consultant gender advisor has been on hand to provide guidance and support partners navigate the choppy seas.
This year, the TAF has continued to support organisations in adopting gender-smart CDRFI approaches and share lessons across contexts. Through a competitive process, three programmes were selected to receive support, including online coaching, targeted briefing notes and technical review of documents:
Insights from the advisory work with these three programmes highlight practical lessons to strengthen gender-smart CDRFI design and implementation:
Women-specific constraints to CDRFI need to be identified to inform inclusive market strategies.
Inclusion starts with understanding how women and other marginalised groups experience constraints across demand, supply, and the enabling environment. These may include missing identification documents to meet Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, a lack of land titles needed for eligibility, mobility restrictions, or limited digital literacy to access payouts. Mapping these gender-differentiated barriers along the CRI value chain helps pinpoint where they occur and how to address them through product features, distribution models, or payout mechanisms.
Bundling CRI with credit requires addressing credit access barriers
Once barriers are identified, the next challenge is expanding access. Bundling insurance with credit can help, but only if women’s underlying credit constraints are addressed simultaneously. Without this dual focus, such models reach only women who already have access to credit. Expanding distribution beyond credit-linked channels to savings groups, cooperatives, women’s associations, and other aggregators can help reach lower-income women. There are also opportunities to link insurance with other financial products and livelihood-related services to diversify access pathways and increase women’s participation.
Designing premium and payout mechanisms that reflect how women access finance
CRI premium collection and payout systems must align with how women access and use financial services locally. Understanding the share of women using mobile money, savings groups, or informal accounts helps tailor mechanisms that work in practice. For vulnerable women receiving cash transfers under macro-level CDRFI schemes, there are opportunities to leverage the registration process by onboarding them into basic financial accounts, which can link risk protection with longer-term financial inclusion.
Flexible premium payment options improve women’s access
Affordability challenges often relate not to price but to timing. Flexible payment schedules help smallholder farmers, especially women with irregular incomes, better manage premiums. Structured instalments that align with agricultural cycles make participation feasible without heavy subsidies.
Inclusive CDRFI approaches need to include CRI literacy interventions to ensure women have the knowledge and skills to plan for premium payments and maintain control of CRI payouts
Premium support can help stimulate initial demand, but must be paired with financial and insurance literacy. Tailored education helps women understand the value of CRI, types of coverage, methods to plan premium payments, and manage payouts safely, especially to avoid financial risks when sharing mobile devices or SIM cards with others. Such literacy efforts turn short-term access into sustained participation.
Leveraging these insights, the CoE seeks to build on its foundations in 2026 to continue providing technical advisory support to further the gender agenda in the CDRFI sector.
Join the CoE Community of Practice on Gender & CDRFI to learn more and share insights on integration of gender considerations into CDRFI.
© 2026 Center of Excellence
