While global efforts prioritise carbon emission reduction, Africa contends with immediate losses—environmental degradation, food scarcity, and economic instability—challenges that threaten to unravel development and exacerbate poverty. This highlights the need to merge development and climate strategies, ensuring community resilience under these conditions.
Cenfri has been actively involved in shaping the insurance resilience landscape through a variety of projects. This has been possible through collaboration with key stakeholders like UNEP FI, FSDA, NDSI, and AXA. Our body of work includes insurance and inclusion diagnostics, climate risk management convenings and drafting policies and strategies that leverage insurance as a response to climate risks.
We are keen to partner with others in expanding our portfolio of sustainability work and are exploring how to manage the trade-offs between economic opportunity, security and sustainability in Africa.
For those in development, 2025 has been a bit of a wild ride and many organisations have been doing some introspection. The team at Cenfri has been thinking about how we can continue to pursue evidence-driven impact, financial independence and sustainability with an inspired, capable and purpose-driven team (our enduring
“It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul”. This quote from a KwaZulu Natal (KZN) municipality captures the cycle many South African municipalities are currently trapped in – scrambling post-disaster to shift funds from maintenance to disaster response. In 2022, South Africa’s KZN province was hit by catastrophic floods that claimed
South Africa faces growing exposure to severe natural disasters, with annual disaster relief costs averaging R3.7 billion, 86% of which are uninsured. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns of increasing disaster frequency and severity due to climate change. Municipalities, at the forefront of disaster response, require
Policymakers, especially in Africa, are facing unprecedented trade-offs between economic opportunity, national security, and climate sustainability. This article has been in the making for a while and the rapidly evolving global context makes it challenging to account for all the nuances, but some fundamental considerations persist. This is the first
As outlined in the discussion on developing a data strategy, the journey to becoming a data-driven organisation begins with a clear vision, practical objectives, and strong frameworks. Data governance plays a critical role in this transformation. Whether or not the data strategy has been finalised, the responsibility to protect and
Our work at Cenfri rarely follows the typical rhythms of the calendar year, yet, as 2024 draws to a close, we thought it would be good to reflect on what we’ve achieved. It’s been a busy few months: we’ve worked on around 50 projects and undertaken work-related travel to 19
Over the past three years, the Global Stocktake (GST) embarked on a consultative journey to assess progress towards the objectives of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The synthesis of these discussions has yielded 17 critical insights, spotlighting both achievements and hurdles in the implementation of the Agreement. Notably, efforts to
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Egypt Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a fundamental role in the Egyptian economy – they drive more than 80% of GDP growth and 40% of total employment – but they face considerable risks that hinder their ability to thrive. Insurance could bolster
Opportunities await insurers and tech providers who are willing to work together Insurance is a key tool that provides businesses with protection and resilience against risks and that enables them to better bounce back from shocks experienced. However – despite its potential positive impact – micro, small and medium enterprises
Importance of insurance amplified by COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes one of the largest recent shocks to the African continent and has amplified the importance of the insurance sector’s role in development and supporting the resilience of businesses and individuals. Insurance can help manage risks and transfer funds to
For those in development, 2025 has been a bit of a wild ride and many organisations have been doing some introspection. The team at Cenfri has been thinking about how we can continue to pursue evidence-driven impact, financial independence and sustainability with an inspired, capable and purpose-driven team (our enduring
“It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul”. This quote from a KwaZulu Natal (KZN) municipality captures the cycle many South African municipalities are currently trapped in – scrambling post-disaster to shift funds from maintenance to disaster response. In 2022, South Africa’s KZN province was hit by catastrophic floods that claimed
South Africa faces growing exposure to severe natural disasters, with annual disaster relief costs averaging R3.7 billion, 86% of which are uninsured. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns of increasing disaster frequency and severity due to climate change. Municipalities, at the forefront of disaster response, require
Policymakers, especially in Africa, are facing unprecedented trade-offs between economic opportunity, national security, and climate sustainability. This article has been in the making for a while and the rapidly evolving global context makes it challenging to account for all the nuances, but some fundamental considerations persist. This is the first
As outlined in the discussion on developing a data strategy, the journey to becoming a data-driven organisation begins with a clear vision, practical objectives, and strong frameworks. Data governance plays a critical role in this transformation. Whether or not the data strategy has been finalised, the responsibility to protect and
Our work at Cenfri rarely follows the typical rhythms of the calendar year, yet, as 2024 draws to a close, we thought it would be good to reflect on what we’ve achieved. It’s been a busy few months: we’ve worked on around 50 projects and undertaken work-related travel to 19
Over the past three years, the Global Stocktake (GST) embarked on a consultative journey to assess progress towards the objectives of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The synthesis of these discussions has yielded 17 critical insights, spotlighting both achievements and hurdles in the implementation of the Agreement. Notably, efforts to
Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Egypt Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a fundamental role in the Egyptian economy – they drive more than 80% of GDP growth and 40% of total employment – but they face considerable risks that hinder their ability to thrive. Insurance could bolster
Opportunities await insurers and tech providers who are willing to work together Insurance is a key tool that provides businesses with protection and resilience against risks and that enables them to better bounce back from shocks experienced. However – despite its potential positive impact – micro, small and medium enterprises
Importance of insurance amplified by COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes one of the largest recent shocks to the African continent and has amplified the importance of the insurance sector’s role in development and supporting the resilience of businesses and individuals. Insurance can help manage risks and transfer funds to
