Self-Employed Women's Association's (SEWA): Experience in Providing Microinsurance Services to Poor Informal Sector Workers

This paper was commissioned by the Microcredit Summit Campaign in 2006.The paper examines the experience of 'Self Employed Women's Association' (SEWA) in the field of micro-insurance.The paper highlights the importance of insurance for women workers, explaining that insurance acts as a safety net, reducing the financial vulnerability of poor women workers.The paper details:

• Various kinds of risks at the personal, occupational and family levels and their financial impacts;
• The membership of SEWA;
• The following features of VimoSEWA, the insurance package that SEWA offers to its members:
  • There are two different schemes, each of which covers a package of risks,
  • Women are the policy-holders - their spouses and children are covered though them,
  • Poor women and their families get comprehensive life and non-life coverage under one window.

The paper argues that:

• Poor women are insurable;
• When women take the lead, insurance is viable;
• Health insurance is most urgently required and is viable if it is controlled by the users themselves;
• There is need for a comprehensive insurance package, covering both life and non-life risks
• Insurance must be available to the workers at their doorsteps.

The paper lays out a detailed plan for each state to implement and monitor the quality of social security, including the members of the board, and its functions.It concludes by emphasizing the importance of a decentralized, flexible method of implementation, with district-level control.