Tanzania

Overview

The United Republic of Tanzania is prone to drought, earthquakes and flooding, all of which can wreak havoc in the country’s agriculture-reliant economy and damage lives and livelihoods. If adequately developed, insurance and risk finance have the potential to provide urgently needed solutions.
Working with the government, private sector partners and the international community, UNDP is building institutional capacity and improving the enabling environment for insurance market development and improved disaster risk management in Tanzania.

Main Natural Hazards

Drought, Earthquake, Flood

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¹
Source:

https://drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/inform-index/INFORM-Risk/Country-Risk-Profile}

State of multidimensional fragility

Fragile

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¹
Source:

https://www3.compareyourcountry.org/states-of-fragility}

% of population covered by inclusive insurance products

11%

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¹
Source:
The Microinsurance Network, Landscape of Microinsurance 2023, Based on target population estimate for Tanzania of 19,661,817 people
https://microinsurancenetwork.org/resources/the-landscape-of-microinsurance-2023}

Biodiversity ranking

#18 out of 239 countries and territories (2023)

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¹
Source:

https://worldrainforests.com/03highest_biodiversity.htm}

Small business % contribution to workforce

Up to 40% of total employment

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¹
Source:

http://www.tccia.com/tcciaweb/smetoolkit/introduction.htm}

Multidimensional poverty

57.1% (2015/2016)

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¹
Source:

https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/hdp-document/2023mpireporten.pdf}

Insurance penetration

1.99% (2022)

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¹
Source:

https://www.tira.go.tz/uploads/documents/sw-1702883041-AIMP%20REPORT%202022_n1-compressed-min-compressed_compressed_compressed_compressed-compressed.pdf}

Number of insurance providers

35 insurance companies

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¹
Source:

https://www.tira.go.tz/uploads/documents/sw-1702883041-AIMP%20REPORT%202022_n1-compressed-min-compressed_compressed_compressed_compressed-compressed.pdf}

% Workforce engaged in agriculture

66% (2022)

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¹
Source:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS}

Our work in numbers

2.8

Million projected beneficiaries

Reaching people through insurance and risk finance solutions.

1

Insurance solutions in development

Protecting people, jobs, agriculture and public assets.

3

Institutional and policy processes

Strengthening the enabling environment for insurance to scale.

247

Training programme participants

Building country capacity in insurance and risk finance.

Our projects

Developing capacity for disaster risk finance and inclusive insurance
The Tripartite Agreement (TPA) is a public-private partnership between UNDP, 20 of the world’s largest insurers under the framework of the Insurance Development Forum and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Through this partnership, UNDP is building government capacity on disaster risk finance in Tanzania.
UNDP is also supporting the government in building an enabling environment for inclusive insurance development and working with development sector partners to improve capacity in inclusive insurance among public and private sector stakeholders.

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Protecting smallholder farmers from the financial impacts of climate change
Working with government and industry, the Financial Resilience in Agriculture (FRA) Initiative, powered by a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is bolstering smallholder farmers’ financial resilience and accelerating their adaptation to climate change.
FRA is designing and implementing an innovative agricultural insurance programme in Tanzania, focused on building sustainable business models so that actors from the inclusive insurance ecosystem can help protect smallholder farmers.
Tanzania is also a founding member of the FRA Community of Practice (CoP) – a long-term peer-to-peer platform that focuses on how countries and partners can learn new and best practice for financial resilience for smallholder farmers.

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Increasing actuarial capacity to improve financial risk management
The UNDP Milliman Global Actuarial Initiative (GAIN) aims to help countries predict and prepare for risks by increasing actuarial capacity, enabling better risk modelling and more accurate pricing of insurance and social protection mechanisms. In cooperation with local insurance authorities, the GAIN initiative is working to improve actuarial training in Tanzania through training programmes, mentorship arrangements and support for actuarial professionals.

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Incentivizing the development of new insurance products and services across emerging economies
UNDP’s Insurance Innovation Challenges are powering a new generation of insurance products and services tailored to underserved households and businesses in developing economies.
- Active in 25 countries, with an investment of over US$2.1 million
- Addressing specific barriers and opportunities to scale financial protection, with a particular focus on women, SMEs and other vulnerable groups
- Creating market opportunities for insurance providers and safeguarding development.
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Leveraging cutting-edge climate risk data to bolster countries’ climate resilience and adaptation strategies.

UNDP and Jupiter are working with governments to provide specific climate-risk data based on country development priorities such as agriculture or small businesses resilience. Tailored climate-risk insights will strengthen key development frameworks, inform financial decisions, and help governments select the right risk management solutions, such as insurance, to protect people and infrastructure.

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