Originally published by ICMIF.
18 December 2025
The ICMIF Foundation celebrates a decade of impact – protecting the lives and livelihoods of underserved communities through the power of mutual solidarity.
On 11 November 2025, the ICMIF Foundation marked ten years of service to the global community of mutuals and cooperatives, advancing financial and social protection through mutual microinsurance among the most vulnerable populations, including women, the informal livelihood sector, and climate-affected communities.
Over the past decade, the Foundation has promoted risk reduction and prevention in low-income communities, working closely with community-based organisations to expand access to appropriate mutual microinsurance. In addition to providing grant funding, the Foundation has supported the development of long-term sustainable, scalable and impactful community-based microinsurance programmes through South-to-South technical assistance support, capacity building and peer to peer exchanges.
“Though we started our mutual insurance programme on a small scale, it was truly scaled up with the support of The ICMIF Foundation under its 5-5-5 programme,” says M.P. Vasimalai, Executive Director, DHAN Foundation (India). “The strong partnership between ICMIF and DHAN’s mutual insurance program has created a model for scaling up. It’s not just about numbers—many more people have been involved as enablers of this mutual insurance. This was possible because of the ICMIF Foundation’s support, which has allowed us to reach millions of poor families.”
ICMIF Foundation timeline
1963 – The ICMIF Development Function was created to support mutuals and create new cooperative insurers in emerging markets. Since then, more than 25 mutual insurers have been established worldwide.
2015 – The ICMIF Foundation was established under the oversight of the ICMIF Development Committee in order to scale up the ICMIF development work.
2016 – With its first major initiative, the 5-5-5 Mutual Microinsurance Strategy, the ICMIF Foundation’s project partners are currently insuring over 3 million low-income households, impacting more than 18 million lives and livelihoods.
2022 – A partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) led to the launch of the UNDP–ICMIF Insurance Innovation Challenge (IIC), a strategic collaboration to foster innovative mutual insurance solutions for underserved households and small businesses, with a strong focus on women.
Through the IIC, beneficiaries such as Juan Andre Monterosso Morado, son of a deceased policyholder in the Philippines, have received support to help manage the financial shock of losing a family member.
“We are very grateful that my mother was a member of the mutual benefit association, SEDMFI MBA,” says Morado. “When my mother passed away, the claims collector immediately guided us through the requirements, and just two days later, we received the insurance benefit. The payout (approximately USD 860) covered the coffin, vigil, and burial expenses, and the process was fast and hassle-free. Without this support, our situation would have been very difficult.”
ICMIF Foundation impact in numbers
- 3.7 million low-income households insured
- 18.5 million lives and livelihoods protected
- 41 ICMIF members providing financial and technical support
- 32 technical assignments delivered (North-to-South and South-to-South)
These milestones reflect not only a decade of the ICMIF Foundation’s work, but the culmination of over sixty years of the cooperative and mutual movement’s commitment to reaching underserved communities and the most vulnerable. Sabbir Patel, Chief Executive of the ICMIF Foundation (United Kingdom), reflects on the past decade: “The last ten years have shown that mutual microinsurance can succeed at scale through the financial support of ICMIF members and South-to-South knowledge-sharing. It is a testament to the power of mutuality in our network and demonstrates the real purpose behind what we as mutuals strive to do. We are deeply appreciative to all our supporters and look forward to continuing the journey together to reach even more of the underserved and marginalised communities”.
Explore the ICMIF Foundation’s 10th anniversary infographic on LinkedIn to learn more and view photos highlighting milestones and impact over the past decade: ‘10 Years of Mutuality in Action‘
For more information about the ICMIF Foundation, visit the website and follow the LinkedIn page for regular updates.