GAD helped countries with disaster risk financing
How GAD is helping the World Bank and developing countries plan better for financial losses relating to natural disasters.
An actuarial invention by the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) is helping the World Bank and developing countries plan better for financial losses relating to natural disasters.
Understanding and planning
We have developed spreadsheet-based modelling tools which will help countries when they plan for the financial impact of disasters such as hurricanes and floods. The tools will also help when developing countries consider the use of risk transfer products to mitigate large losses.
Project management
We won a competitive tender for the year-long project. We outlined the initial scope and technical specification, collected appropriate public source data and managed multiple stakeholders.
A separate, independent team in GAD carried out additional quality assurance. The project work from both teams was successfully managed for the overall benefit of the project.
GAD’s invention and contribution
Our user-friendly spreadsheet tools are supported by more than 20,000 lines of code, which we designed and delivered, using publicly available data.
The tools can be used by a diverse range of people, from financial experts to non-technical audiences in developing countries. To achieve this, the tools:
- have 2 user modes – basic and advanced
- are set out in a user-friendly way with minimal inputs required
- are accompanied by 3 sets of instructions depending on the level of use
Our work on the project means these tools include clear interfaces and opportunities to:
- model a risk profile by fitting distributions to the data
- input financing assumptions to meet disaster losses and compare multiple options by calculating associated opportunity costs
- interact with 40 dynamic exhibits which display results of underlying risk profiles and the impact of financing strategies
- investigate more advanced options