Context and motivation
 Pastoral communities represent 14% of Ethiopia's population (about 14 million), inhabit approximately 60%.
 Drought-related losses of livestock, the principal asset and source of income for pastoralist herders, is regular risk faced
by this population and the main cause of livelihood stagnation and poverty traps.
 The failed short and long rains of 2016 and 2017 for example, resulted in more than 1.5 million livestock perishing in the
predominantly pastoralist southern and south-eastern areas, representing an economic loss of over USD350 million.
 Risk management instruments that rely on low cost, accessible and reliable solutions to protect pastoralists from
drought-related livestock losses critical to building resilience and unlocking the value of the pastoralist value chain.
 Designed to protect pastoralists against drought-related livestock losses, the Index-Based Livestock Insurance project
(IBLI) was launched in Borana zone of Ethiopia in August 2012 under a broad partnership spearheaded by ILRI and
Oromia Insurance SC (OIC).
 IBLI product pays out in the event of severe forage scarcity, allowing pastoralists to purchase inputs to protect their
livestock against mortality in the face of drought.
Contact
Andrew Mude
ILRI, Kenya
a.mude@cigar.org
Masresha Taye
ILRI, Ethiopia
m.taye@cgiar.org
image
Strengthening resilience of pastoralists through index based
livestock insurance (IBLI): insights from Ethiopia
Masresha Taye and Andrew Mude
IBLI Ethiopia impact numbers
 IBLI coverage has strong positive impacts
on subjective, economic, and health-
related indicators of well-being. The
gains are especially pronounced in the
midst of drought events.
 40% uptake of the IBLI product
 IBLI is linked to a 36% drop in ‘distress’
sales of livestock to raise cash in times of
drought, a 25% reduced likelihood of
having to eat significantly smaller meals,
and a 33% reduction in dependence on
food aid.
 ETB73,283,700 total sum insured under
IBLI Borana since 2012.
 83 cooperatives and MFIs working in
Borana to increase awareness on
financial literacy and IBLI.
 7,464,007 OIC paid to pastoralists in
Borana since 2014.
 11,067 pastoralists purchased IBLI to
protect their animals in Borana since
2012.
1) Precise contract design
4). Evidence of value and impact
2) Establish informed effective demand 3) Low cost, efficient, delivery mechanisms
271 356
116
393
779 698 533
763 707
1,488
2,942
2021
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
A/S
2012
J/F
2013
A/S
2013
J/F
2014
A/S
2014
J/F
2015
A/S
2015
J/F
2016
A/S
2016
J/F
2017
A/S
2017
J/F
2018
Total policies sold
5) Policy and institutional structure
IBLI activities
This publicationis copyrighted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It is licensed
for use under the Creative Commons Attribution4.0 International Licence. July 2018
ILRI thanks all donors and organizations
which globally support its work through
their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.
The IBLI team would also like to thank its
partners for their support