USAID ATLAS Project
Please join the Adaptation Community Meeting on April 20 for a discussion on African Risk Capacity.
African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a sovereign insurance pool and early disaster response mechanism owned and governed by its African Member States. ARC helps its Member States to take the lead on disaster response by bringing together three elements: early warning, contingency planning and insurance. In order to participate in ARC, Member States must customize ARC’s early warning software Africa RiskView for their country context; identify and quantify their weather risk and what to transfer through insurance; and define a pre-agreed contingency plan in the event of ARC insurance payouts. Governments can then access immediate funds for early responses in the case of a natural disaster. Reducing the time it takes for assistance to reach those affected through early, nationally-led response reduces costs and the reliance on international appeals for assistance over time, but, more importantly, it saves the lives and livelihoods of those affected. Together ARC countries are catalyzing an essential paradigm shift in the humanitarian landscape to anticipatory, nationally-owned responses to natural disasters, but also providing an opportunity for donors, humanitarian organizations and private sector actors to reinforce the government-led risk management system they are building and to define a new way of responding to predictable natural disasters.
This meeting will dive into ARC’s new Extreme Climate Facility (XCF), and the underlying Extreme Climate Index (ECI). XCF will be a multi-year financial vehicle that will track the frequency and magnitude of extreme climate shocks in Africa and provide additional climate adaptation funds for countries already managing their current weather risks through the ARC system. A prototype ECI has been developed and climate scenario stress test simulations will be conducted, and we are working to determine how it could be used to underpin XCF payment triggers.
Erica Hovani was part of the team that established ARC, including developing the legal structure of the ARC entities, writing the ARC Treaty and working with ARC Member States. She is currently the Legal Counsel of ARC Agency and oversees all of ARC’s legal and governance activities, works with Member governments and coordinates activities with ARC’s financial affiliate, the African Risk Capacity Insurance Company Limited.
Ekhosuehi Iyahen is the Director for Policy & Technical Services a.i. for the African Risk Capacity Agency Secretariat (ARC). In this capacity she is responsible for consolidating partnerships with regional and international bodies in line with the ARC vision and goals and for ensuring quality knowledge and learning enhancement within the ARC Secretariat.
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IH CONNECT 