Originally published by ICMIF
28 April 2025
Canadian ICMIF members Gore Mutual and Co-operators are both supporters of The ICMIF Foundation and employees of both organisations were recently invited to attend a joint learning session on “From local to global: how cooperatives and mutuals are using innovation to build community resilience” to hear about how and why they have partnered with the ICMIF Foundation. Attendees heard about the collaboration between the two insurers, and learnt about the ICMIF Foundation’s Insurance Innovation Challenge which aims to help mutual and cooperative insurers scale up innovative, affordable and inclusive insurance products which serve the needs of underserved households and/or micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, with a particular focus on women, in developing economies.
Both organisations saw value in engaging their employees to learn about the ICMIF Foundation’s work and the reasons why they are supporting them. To this end, a learning session was organised, hosted by the ICMIF Foundation with speakers from both Gore and Co-operators, for their respective workforces.
The objectives of the session:
- Raise awareness across employees about community investments, using the specific example of the ICMIF Foundation
- Make the linkage between local/national partnerships and international efforts to build community resilience
- Deepen the pride employees feel in working for cooperatives and mutuals that are supporting innovative insurance solutions
Employees were asked to register for the learning session using a link provided by the ICMIF Foundation. The webinar was hosted by ICMIF on a platform external to Gore and Co-operators with a time/date chosen to accommodate employees in various time zones in Canada.
The learning session was hosted by Shawna Peddle, Associate Vice President Citizenship, Co-operators; Chantelle Moore, Social Impact Manager, Gore Mutual; and Sabbir Patel, CEO and Managing Director, The ICMIF Foundation.
In her introduction, Shawna Peddle said: “Collaborating has always been at the heart of the cooperative and mutual insurance model. In recognition of the International Year of Cooperatives, we’re proud to continue our partnership with Gore Mutual as co-hosts today, highlighting how collaboration is shaping innovative insurance solutions. Two insurance competitors co-hosting a session for our employees is definitely unique, as is our relationship and our partnership in Gore Mutual’s Climate and Equity Lab.”
Co-operators and Gore are both members of the ICMIF and both organisations give support to the work of the ICMIF Foundation, the charitable arm of ICMIF. The goal of the Foundation is building community resilience in the developing world, engaging with communities to help them understand their risks, educating people on risk reduction, prevention and management, and empowering communities to manage their risks through access to affordable and appropriate micro-insurance is the best path forward towards building stronger communities. Co-operators has supported the work of the Foundation for years with President and CEO, Rob Wesseling currently also acting as Chair of both ICMIF and the Foundation. Gore Mutual has supported the Foundation since 2024 and the webinar was an opportunity to share the work of the Foundation with employees across both organisations.
Chantelle Moore, Social Impact Manager, Gore Mutual also explained the reason her organisation was involved in supporting the ICMIF Foundation saying:
“We were really inspired by the mutual values that we share with Co-operators, and ICMIF Foundation. It’s a shared belief in the mutual advantage of cooperation, which as Shawna said, we’re living a time where to go further is to go together.”
Moore continued: “Here at Gore, we understand it’s our time to stand alongside others in the climate crisis that we’re all experiencing. This is happening in our backyard, this is happening in communities all over the world, and we understand that building resilience within communities is the best way forward to protect ourselves from a climate crisis.”
During the webinar it was explained that ICMIF members such as Co-operators and Gore Mutual support the work of the Foundation financially through donations but also there are opportunities for employees to also take part in Technical Assistance projects. Sabbir Patel explained more about the types of projects/work that members can get involved in: “There’s a range of expertise that we provide depending on the needs of these organisations. Depending on what stage of development they are in, in essence, we have a number of members in the South who have successfully established micro-insurance programmes and they provide strategic advice to other organisations in terms of how to set up, how to have the right strategy, how to work with communities, how to make sure they have the right infrastructure in place to build up their programmes for the long term. And then there’s also training that’s provided by the organisations in terms of how to make sure they have the right staff in place to deliver on these programmes and build up a community infrastructure to carry it forward.
Patel continued: “And then from the organisations and the ICMIF members from the North, it’s very much focused around technical support. So, it could be actuarial analysis, it could be training on certain insurance principles, it could be on software. It could be a wide range depending on the actual organisation that we are supporting and what their needs are.”
The webinar is available to all ICMIF member employees to watch on-demand. Please complete the short form here to request the link to watch.
Source: Recent webinar educates Co-operators and Gore Mutual employees on the work of the ICMIF Foundation and its Insurance Innovation Challenge – ICMIF, 28 April 2025