Insurance that pays in days, not months: the World Food Programme buys storm cover for Haiti and the Dominican Republic

When a hurricane hits, help usually waits on fundraising — appeals, pledges, and money that arrives long after the first hungry week. The UN World Food Programme has just bought a faster route. WFP has become the first UN agency to join the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), purchasing parametric tropical-cyclone policies for Haiti and the Dominican Republic with a combined coverage limit of $11.6 million. Parametric insurance works on a trigger, not a damage assessment: when a storm meets pre-agreed measures of strength and track, the payout is calculated from the model and released within days. That speed is the whole point — pre-arranged money WFP can turn immediately into food and assistance for vulnerable communities, while slower funding catches up. The move also signals a wider shift: humanitarian agencies using insurance markets to prepare for disasters instead of only pleading after them.

SDG 2 · Zero hunger — Mechanism: funding & finance