As part of the KNOWvember 2025 discussion series, the World Bank Group (WBG) Academy Impact Program “Disaster Risk Insurance” held a webinar session titled “Insuring Against Disaster Risk” last November 25th. The webinar showcased how knowledge, financing, and public-private collaboration can accelerate real-world development impact, with lessons shared from the training held in Istanbul in April 2025. 

Opened by Véronique Kabongo, Head of the World Bank Group Academy and Client Capacity, the session highlighted the Academy’s evolving role as a one-stop shop for client capacity building across the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA, and positioned this program as one of the first Global Impact Programs designed not just to share knowledge, but to drive reform and implementation at country level.

Moderated by Anja Robakowski Van Stralen, the session introduced the Disaster Risk Insurance (DRI) Academy Program, which supports countries in developing public-private insurance partnerships (PPIPs) to close the disaster insurance gap, especially severe in countries with limited financial protection mechanisms.

Tatiana Skalon, Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank, shared lessons from the first DRI Impact Program, which brought together countries at different stages of PPIP development, combining peer-to-peer learning, private sector engagement, interactive formats (including roundtables and a “Shark Tank” exercise), and a field visit to Türkiye’s catastrophe insurance scheme. Key takeaways included the importance of practical implementation, interactivity, and engaging the right “change agents” to accelerate reform.

From the private sector perspective, Zeeshan Vazeer, Senior Industry Specialist, Insurance, IFC, emphasized how disciplined underwriting, quality data, distribution models including insurtechs, and affordable premiums are critical for sustainable disaster and agricultural insurance markets. IFC’s participation highlighted how private capital, insurtech innovation, and advisory services can complement public policy efforts, unlocking new opportunities for resilient insurance markets.

Ubaldo Elizondo (Senior Climate Change Specialist, MIGA) outlined MIGA’s evolving role in disaster risk management through guarantees and climate-resilient project design, and shared how the institution is exploring closer engagement in disaster risk transfer, including parametric insurance, in collaboration with WBG partners.

Closing the panel, Thibault Bouessel du Bourg (Financial Sector Specialist, Disaster Risk Finance, World Bank) reflected on progress since the first DRI Academy event, including plans for a second learning cohort, early signs of country level impact in Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt, and next steps such as building a community of practice and strengthening monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track how knowledge contributes to policy reform and institutional change.

Overall, the session illustrated the Knowledge Bank in action, where shared expertise, cross-institutional collaboration, and sustained engagement help countries move from learning to implementation, strengthening financial resilience against disasters worldwide.

Watch the session to hear directly from World Bank Group experts on how disaster risk insurance solutions are being designed, implemented, and scaled across regions.