HARITA Project Report: Nov 2007 - Dec 2009

The Horn of Africa Risk Transfer for Adaptation (HARITA) project is an initiative involving poor farmers, Oxfam America, Swiss Re, the Relief Society of Tigray, Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Nyala Insurance, Dedebit and Credit Savings Institution, various agencies of the Ethiopian government, and other partner organizations.

Between November 2007 and December 2009, the HARITA partners designed a climate risk management package for farmers in the village of Adi Ha, located in Ethiopia’s northernmost state of Tigray. The project has broken new ground in the field of climate change resiliency and microinsurance by addressing the needs of smallholder producers through an unusual mix of risk reduction, drought insurance, and credit. Under the HARITA risk management package, insurance complements disaster risk reduction and long-term, sustainable investments in agriculture. The first season of results in Adi Ha demonstrated that the HARITA model can effectively reach vulnerable families, most of whom had once been viewed as uninsurable. This report discusses general highlights of the pilot.