MILK Brief #23: Getting better at improving client value: the case of Fonkoze’s Kore W microinsurance product

In 2012, the Haitian microfinance institution Fonkoze partnered with the ILO’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility and the MicroInsurance Centre’s MILK Project to use two tools – MILK’s Client Math tool and the Facility’s PACE tool – to better understand how and whether its Kore W property insurance product added value in the lives of clients and how it might be modified to improve that value. The product itself was modified shortly after the study and following the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. It is currently under more comprehensive review and is not being offered with new loans. This brief summarizes the results of these two studies, illustrating the complementarities between the two tools and how a deeper understanding of a product’s value can translate into practical improvements that better serve clients. We find that while the Kore W product provided value to clients, there was space to improve that value within the financial and practical constraints Fonkoze faced.