Association/company: Achmea and Achmea Foundation
Country: The Netherlands
Bas Lavalaye is a Finance and Control Manager working for Achmea in the Netherlands. He spent two weeks in India with the DHAN Foundation during April 2018 to assess Year 1 of the project and then suggest ways they could use his findings to help DHAN strengthen its business plan for Year 2 of the project. Seeing and feeling the impact that mutual microinsurance is making to vulnerable people on the ground and making real connections with DHAN staff has provided Bas with an experience he will never forget.
Who was the assignment for?
The DHAN Foundation in India. ICMIF is partnering with its member DHAN to help their mutual insurance solutions for low-income populations reach scale in India as part of ICMIF’s 5-5-5 Mutual Microinsurance Strategy. Through its partnership with DHAN, ICMIF aims to supply over 1 million individuals with mutual insurance products over the next five years.
What was the assignment?
The purpose of this assignment was to assess the first year of the project which ended on 31 March 2018 and use the findings from this exercise to suggest ways to strengthen the business plan for Year 2 in partnership with DHAN.
How did it work?
Before travelling to India, Bas studied all the available reading material on the project and had discussions with ICMIF Foundation staff and other stakeholders to develop his understanding of the DHAN project and how it operates. However, it was only when Bas was in the country for two weeks, engaging with DHAN staff and policyholders that he felt he truly grasped what the project was all about. For the duration of his time in India, DHAN hosted Bas at their office in Madurai. They developed a schedule which involved Bas meeting with key staff to discuss how the project operates and also talking to policyholders in the field who benefit from the mutual products
What has been the impact of the assignment so far?
Bas’ findings and recommendations for the future of the project have enabled the DHAN business plan to be refined and strengthened which in the long-term positively impacts the sustainability of the project beyond five years*.
Hear from Bas in his own words:
“The reason why I signed up for this assignment for the Achmea Foundation are twofold. It was a great opportunity for me to develop my qualities as a finance professional. The idea of sharing my knowledge and experience on mutual development is very appealing, as that’s not something we can do every day – help the poor of the society. It’s been really rewarding so far to actually do that.”
Bas Lavalaye, Finance and Control Manager, Achmea
“Achmea Foundation and Achmea are working together to organise assignments, for which Achmea employees go abroad for one or two weeks to deliver expert advice to partners of Achmea Foundation. These assignments are designed to create a win-win-win situation: our partners gain expert knowledge and tailored advice, the local community benefits via improved services from the partner, and Achmea employees gain a great learning opportunity.”
Achmea Foundation; sustainable impact through social innovation
“Bas's assistance helped us profusely. It’s a good initiative from ICMIF to find quality people to support small mutual initiatives like ourselves.”
Gayathri Sakthirajan, Chief Executive of People Mutuals, DHAN Foundation