The Global Risk Financing Facility (GRiF) pilots and scales up support to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable countries to climate and disaster shocks. GRiF activities include:
- insurance premium financing
- contingent financing
- risk financing investments
- integrating risk transfer with loans to pilot new approaches to support debt sustainability
- risk financing mechanisms that promote improvements in country systems for crisis response and recovery
- technical assistance and capacity building
The GRiF covers climate and disaster shocks and will eventually expand to other crises pending interest from partners.
Governments of Germany and the UK, with support from the World Bank
GRiF funds can be used to scale-up other financing.
Independent impact evaluations will be included in the program design of GRiF.
The World Bank hosts a Secretariat to manage GRiF. The Secretariat includes a Technical Manager and a Trust Fund Manager. The Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Program (DRFIP) in the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice, acts as the Technical Manager. The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) in the Climate Change Group, acts as the Trust Fund Manager. GRiF funding decisions are based on a set of principles, which include both strategic allocation and technical appraisal. Criteria assessed include country ownership, participatory approach during the project design, technical quality and value for money of the proposed financial instrument(s), and competitive procurement of market-based instruments.
GRiF is designed to work through country systems, which means grants will be embedded as part of larger World Bank country projects, reaching ultimate beneficiaries on the ground through country-owned delivery systems.
GRiF support will be provided as a priority to the poorest and most vulnerable countries. Support will also be available to countries for particularly innovative projects that help test and demonstrate new approaches and instruments.
Financing is available for a wide range of activities, including establishing risk financing mechanisms (e.g., up-front costs of setting up instruments such as disaster funds and risk pools); cost-sharing of risk financing mechanisms (e.g., co-payment of insurance premiums); providing technical and financial resources to improve delivery channels for response and recovery (e.g., the establishment of scalable safety nets) and integrate disaster risk in public financial management systems.
The GRiF Portfolio includes a variety of projects that are in sectors which have not traditionally engaged with risk financing, that address different risks, and that use new financial products. The selection of projects going forward will prioritize country projects that focus on:
The most vulnerable geographic areas
Integration of financial planning in new sectors
Innovation in financial solutions
Expansion of tools and financial solutions to address new risks
It further prioritizes global public goods projects that:
Provide implementation support to the GRiF portfolio
Address key research and analytics gaps for country project assessment criteria
GRiF support is provided as a priority to the poorest and most vulnerable countries. Support is also available to countries for particularly innovative projects that help test and demonstrate new approaches and instruments. In the first year of implementation, the focus is on countries in Asia and Africa. GRiF donors decide on strategic priorities for resource allocation.
Projects will be selected and evaluated through a transparent process. External expertise will feed into the World Bank’s internal evaluation of funding proposal.