1. VIMO SEWA SEWA’S MICROINSURANCE PROGRAMME FOR WOMEN WORKERS OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY

2. SEWA - A trade union of 1.1 million women

3. SELF EMPLOYED WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION
Work security
Health care
Income security
Childcare
Full
Employment
Social security
Insurance
Housing
Food security
Pension
Economically
Individually
Self
Reliance
Collectively
Decision making
capabilty

4. 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

5. Evolution of the Programme
1992 – Inception
1993 – Husband’s life insurance introduced
1994 – Delinked health insurance from ins. Co.
1998 – Decentralisation, delinked for asset ins.

6. Evolution of the Programme (cont.)
1999 – A separate, autonomous unit, Vimo SEWA formed, plan for insurance cooperative
2000 – Husband’s health insurance started, expansion out of Gujarat
2001 – High increase in membership, linkages with insurance co. again for non life ins.
2002 – Computerisation started

7. 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

8. 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

9. Reaching The Poor Member VIMO SEWA Insurance Cos
Education Product Design
Marketing Risk Carrier
Claims servicing
Data maintenance
Research and monitoring
Policy advocacy

10. Outreach of VIMO SEWA 14 districts in Gujarat 9 states in India
5 NGO Partners

11. Current membership Women: 63,386 Men : 19,252 Children: 18,926
Total : 1,01,564

12. Current Products of VIMO SEWA
Life
Health
House and Assets
Accident
Rainfall
17 schemes

13. Premium Collection House-to-house Through self-help groups
Annual – quarterly – monthly
Fixed deposit
Annual pay

15. Claims servicing Member VIMO SEWA Insurance Company Aagewan
(local leader/insurance promoter)
Prompt reimbursement

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Lessons Learned (cont.)
Insurance is an essential economic support to workers during crises. In sixteen years, 51,531 women got over Rs crores by way of claims.

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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

23. Future Action Increase outreach Work with MFIs, NGO partners
Partner with government’s health programme. (RSBY)
Multi-state cooperative (VimoSEWA) with reduced capital requirement

24. THANK YOU SEWA social@sewass.org vimo@sewass.org www.sewainsurance.org