Managing Director, Advisory and Services of Allianze RE, Dr Sibylle Steimen
Flooding, over the years, has been a major source of many not only in Accra, but various parts of the country.
Many have lost lives and properties due to the perennial flooding in various parts of the country and successive governments have been accused of not doing enough to end this menace.
To help reduce the effects of flooding on its victims, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) together with Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH) and Allianz RE, have developed a Flood Risk Mobile Application, aimed that helping individuals check their levels of risk to floods in order to take the necessary precautionary measures.
The ‘My Flood Risk Accra’ app, implemented in the Accra Metropolitan Assembly as well as the Ga West and Ga East municipalities, according to Managing Director, Advisory and Services of Allianze RE, Dr Sibylle Steimen, was the first of its kind on the Ghanaian market.
Speaking at a forum on Tuesday, August 24, on the theme, ‘Developing Risk Management Approaches for Climate and Health Risks, SAGABI’ she said they hope to spread the project to other parts of the country “so that we can prove that this is a viable way of mitigating risk and also influence climate change in the region.
“The lessons learnt in this product in this endeavour is actually used in future in an ongoing project which we are about to start with a partner so that we can show continuity in helping to cover the main risk which you have mainly in your region,” she added.
Dr Steimen further thanked GIZ for collaborating with them on the project.
“It was good to have each other because we would complement each other’s ‘know how’, different sides, whereas we understood more in the area of insurance risk management that could help us to say the local connections and making say discussions and workshops much more successful than we would actually be on our own and I think that with the example of what we have achieved really proves that this is an example that I think we should also follow in future.”
The Country Director of GIZ, Regina Bauerochse Barbosa address participants of the forum noted that “While acquiring insurance in Ghana is predominantly centrated on vehicles and perphaps lives, growth for other areas is slow. Insurance is a innovative financial instrument to take over residual risk which cannot be refused. It has worked in many parts of the world and can work here in Ghana.”
Also, the Chief Executive of the AMA, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, highlighting the benefits of the project added that plans are ongoing to encourage insurance companies to support Small and mid-size enterprises who are affected by flooding in the country.
“The impact of flooding in Accra affects the economy and livelihood of people, and mostly, the insurance companies hardly reach out to the informal sector, especially SMEs. So we are working with some insurance companies to understand the risk involved in working with the informal sector players and be able to embrace them in the whole gamut of insurance packages.”