Grant awarded to Women’s World Banking

The Foundation is pleased to support Women’s World Banking.  Women’s World Banking is a non-profit organization that designs market-driven solutions, invests in financial institutions, and helps to shape policy environments in emerging markets to create greater economic stability and prosperity for women, their families, and their communities. Over their 40-year history, Women’s World Banking has directly impacted more than 30 million women with financial services that create security and prosperity. Women’s World Banking’s co-actors are its global Network of cross-sector partners (retail banks, fintech companies, microfinance institutions, and more), which includes 49 organizations in 31 countries, with a reach of 64 million women. Network members commit to responsibly serve the underserved women’s market, advance women’s leadership and gender diversity, create insights and best practices in women’s financial inclusion, and share learnings with each other to achieve greater scale and impact.

To help low-income women and their families overcome the aforementioned obstacles, Women’s World Banking developed Caregiver in 2006. Caregiver is a simple, affordable microinsurance product that provides a cash benefit after hospitalization, regardless of illness, to customers who can use funds for a range of needs including lost revenue while not being able to work or having to close their businesses. This includes maternity. Caregiver is designed based on customer research to understand women’s health risks and financial needs during health emergencies. The product is relevant and meaningful because it covers childbirth, which is often not covered under many other medical insurance programs. Unlike traditional medical insurance, in which the insurance plan reimburses for the cost of medical treatment and the money goes to the provider, Caregiver pays cash directly to the claimant. The claimant is free to use the money received as claims benefit in any way she desires, whether for medical expenses or to meet other immediate expenses. This allows her the flexibility to prioritize her needs. Funds will be used to replicate the Caregiver program in Indonesia in partnership with a financial service provider and insurer in the region.

Caregiver meets the unique health financing needs of low-income women. The program makes a sustainable difference by offering healthcare coverage that is meaningful, relevant, and affordable for low-income women, ensuring they do not need to dip into savings or resort to informal moneylenders when hospitalization occurs. To date, Caregiver has reached more than 2,000,000 beneficiaries, more than one million of them women and girls.