Gender Analysis of Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance in Madagascar

Madagascar is highly exposed to climate-related shocks, including recurrent cyclones and droughts, which disproportionately affect women due to entrenched social norms, high poverty levels, and limited access to land ownership and financial services. This report, commissioned by the Centre of Excellence on Gender-smart Solutions and conducted by Oxford Policy Management, examines how Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) policies and programmes in Madagascar integrate Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), and assesses whether existing frameworks effectively address differentiated vulnerabilities. Drawing on research and stakeholder consultations, the analysis highlights key constraints, including low financial and insurance literacy, limited decision-making power for women, weak regulatory incentives for gender-responsive insurance products, and persistent gaps in sex-disaggregated data. Climate shocks further intensify livelihood insecurity, disruptions to education and gender-based violence, particularly in rural and cyclone- and drought-prone areas, deepening gendered vulnerabilities.  

This analysis is in support the Global Shield In-Country Process providing critical evidence to inform Madagascar’s stocktake and gap analysis as well as the Request for Support to the Global Shield. Practical recommendations to strengthen gender-responsive CDRFI in Madagascar focus on improved gender-disaggregated data systems, affordable microinsurance for women smallholder farmers, strengthened institutional capacity and financial and insurance literacy. Strengthening CDRFI, alongside broader investments in livelihoods and social services, is essential to ensure climate risk financing reaches those most affected.  

This review focuses on the integration of gender considerations in CDRFI policies and programmes in Madagascar, with a particular emphasis on women and girls, while also addressing the specific vulnerabilities of children, people with disabilities, and older populations affected by climate-related shocks.