Namibia invites Indian women’s cooperative

GANDHINAGAR - Namibia has invited VimoSEWA, India’s first insurance cooperative owned and run by women workers, to assist in the development of micro-insurance in the southern African nation.

Namibia’s state-owned financial service authority, NAMFISA, and FIDES bank, a

microfinance institution, have invited VimoSEWA to set up the micro-insurance service in that country, said VimoSEWA chairperson Mirai Chatterjee.

The Namibian government has launched a programme to extend social security coverage

to its citizens.

“As part of the assistance programme, a policy forum was held in the capital Windhoek, recently where the operational details for the programme were worked out,” Chatterjee told mediapersons in Ahmedabad Thursday evening.

As part of its Vision 2030 programme, the Namibian government is providing NAM$450 per month (Rs.2,700) pension to its elderly citizens and NAM$200 (Rs.1,200) per month to the disabled.

VimoSEWA is a part of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) family. It is an integrated micro-insurance scheme protecting the health, life and assets of its members and their families.

Registered in September 2009, it has 10,000 shareholders from five states — Gujarat Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.

“Currently 1,25,000 women and their family members are covered by VimoSEWA which provides a combination of insurance services and products with premiums paid by women, ranging from Rs.400 to Rs.1,000 per annum,” said Chatterjee, who is also SEWA’s social security director.

VimoSEWA provides technical assistance to the International Labour Organisation’s Microfinance Innovation Facility and Sa-dhan, a federation of microfinance organisations in India.