Innovative Insurance for Resilience: Humanity Insured’s Impact in Malawi   

In September 2024, Humanity Insured, an international non-profit backed by the insurance sector and UNHCR, announced a partnership to subsidise a portion of the premium for innovative drought insurance for the displaced people and host communities in Malawi’s Dzaleka refugee settlement. 

We sat down with Charlie Langdale, CEO of Humanity Insured, to discuss this exciting initiative and how innovative insurance can strengthen climate resilience for the most vulnerable communities in the world.  

© Humanity Insured

Could you tell us a bit about yourself, and Humanity Insured?  

I’ve spent 30 years in the insurance industry and have seen both how transformative insurance can be in unlocking finance and more recently, for communities dealing with the devastating impacts of climate change. At COP26 back in 2021, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados passionately pleaded “Where is the private sector?” —a question that stopped me in my tracks. I realised that the insurance industry is ideally placed to help make disaster relief rapid and more reliable and do this at scale. 

This year, the global funding gap for humanitarian aid has skyrocketed to $49 billion (1). Supported by seed funding from seven major global insurance companies, including Howden, Allianz, The Fidelis Partnership, Tokio Marine Kiln, Beazley, AXA XL and Hiscox, Humanity Insured was founded to fill this funding gap. Our aim is to make insurance protection accessible to the 3.6 billion (2) people on the frontline of the climate crisis, fostering a virtuous cycle of sustainable, entrepreneurial and inclusive growth amongst the most vulnerable. 

How will Humanity Insured’s work with UNHCR support refugees and host communities in Malawi? 

Humanity Insured has partnered with UNHCR to address food insecurity in Malawi’s Dzaleka refugee settlement, where recurring droughts severely impact both refugees and host communities. Together, we’ve subsidised the premium for an innovative drought insurance programme that will allow UNHCR rapid access to funding when drought conditions meet specific rainfall thresholds. This insurance enables families from both communities to purchase essential items like food and agricultural supplies during the lean season, which is often the toughest time of year.  

Alongside resilience building activities, this initiative helps stabilise livelihoods by providing financial security and reducing the reliance on harmful coping strategies that drive poverty and disproportionately affect women and girls. By ensuring quick access to funds, the initiative addresses immediate needs while also fostering long-term economic stability, food security, and self-sufficiency for both communities.  

What impact do you hope this work with UNHCR will have on refugee communities?  

Through our partnership with UNHCR, we aim to empower refugees and host communities to go beyond mere daily survival. By providing a financial safety net, we’re helping to meet their immediate needs while also enabling them to invest in a more stable and secure future. This initiative gives refugee communities the freedom to make choices and build the kind of lives that many of us take for granted. With food insecurity addressed, they can focus on their future, embracing sustainable farming techniques for the next season and restoring their sense of dignity and empowerment. Our goal is to scale these efforts to build climate resilience for millions. 

There are two key aspects of this initiative that drive impact. Firstly, the funding is pre-arranged, which means UNHCR can plan ahead and respond to droughts proactively – even before a crisis hits. Secondly, the funding is reliable. It won’t be diverted to other headline-grabbing crises, no matter what’s happening elsewhere in the world. This gives UNHCR and the communities they support confidence that the resources will be there when they need them.  

While Humanity Insured can’t solve every challenge, such as enabling refugees to return home, we do hope that insurance can offer something essential: agency and a sense of security, stability, and certainty in an otherwise unpredictable world. That’s the impact we’re striving to achieve. 

What’s next for Humanity Insured? 

We have approved our first five grants, including partnerships with UNHCR, One Acre Fund, and Mama Bank, and we are only getting started. In our inaugural year, we will protect over 3 million people in countries like Kenya, Malawi, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Syria, and beyond. 

Looking ahead, our focus will be on scaling this impact. By 2030, we aim to protect over 30 million people in climate-vulnerable communities, expanding our reach to empower those most affected by the growing risks of climate change. The journey has just begun and the potential for impact is immense. 

How does Humanity Insured prioritise the activities it supports? Are there specific criteria for selecting projects or partners?  

First and foremost, we prioritise people, not projects. We focus on those whose lives and livelihoods are most vulnerable to extreme weather events, whether it’s droughts, floods, or extreme heat. For example, smallholder farmers in Kenya whose crops fail without rain, women working in the informal sector in India labouring in 45-degree heat, coastal communities whose livelihoods are destroyed by tropical cyclones, and in the case of UNHCR, refugees who are trying to rebuild their lives but facing repeated setbacks from displacement and droughts. People who have been forced out of their homes by conflict can find themselves displaced again and again for all sorts of reasons, and we want to make sure climate shocks aren’t one of them. 

We have a panel of experts from a range of backgrounds, including development, finance, humanitarian and climate, who evaluate each proposal to ensure it aligns with our mission by delivering the greatest impact for those who need it most. 

How does Humanity Insured measure the success or impact of its initiatives in refugee and host communities?  

To put it simply, we ask the people we serve and focus on the point in the process where the money reaches the individual. We gather their feedback on what worked, what could be improved, and adjust based on what they tell us. Assessments of the absorption capacity of the communities and feedback mechanisms are built into our projects, ensuring the funding reaches the right people and delivers the greatest impact. 

We also rely on our partners, like UNHCR, who bring decades of expertise in refugee protection. For example, they’ve made it clear that supporting both refugees and local communities is essential, and we trust their guidance. 

Our Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning approach includes baseline surveys, consultations, and participatory assessments with refugees and host communities. This ensures our solutions are effective and responsive to their needs. It’s an ongoing cycle of listening, learning, and improving to deliver meaningful results for those on the climate frontlines. 

What’s the ambition for Humanity Insured and UNHCR – what can we achieve together? 

Our partnership with UNHCR is just the beginning. This initiative highlights how innovative insurance solutions can meet the unique challenges faced by refugees and provide life–saving funding to those who don’t have a safety net. 

Together, we’re aiming to build resilience for both refugees and host communities, ensuring they don’t have to live in fear of climate disasters destroying their livelihoods and sending them into a cycle of poverty. We want these communities to move beyond survival and be positioned to rebuild their lives with dignity and hope. 

Looking ahead, the potential is huge. Together, we aim to scale these efforts, create a more resilient future for vulnerable populations, and drive lasting change on a global scale.  

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If you would like to learn more about UNHCR’s work and how you can support refugees, please contact us at [email protected] 

Footnotes:

1. OCHA, Global Humanitarian Overview 2024, September Update (Snapshot as of 30 September 2024).
2. WHO, climate change.