Consultancy to develop a thought leadership report on urban flood risk transfer

Country:  Home-based

Description of the Assignment:  Consultancy to develop a thought leadership report on urban flood risk transfer

Period of assignment/services (if applicable):  September 2026-February 2027 (approx. 35 working days)

Background:

UNDP’s Insurance and Risk Finance Team, (https://irff.undp.org/) housed within the Sustainable Finance Hub’s Private Finance portfolio, is building countries’ long-term financial resilience to an evolving risk landscape. Currently active in 39 countries, the Insurance and Risk Finance (IRFF) is working with over 100 public and private partners, facilitating tailored financial protection solutions for the public sector, households, smallholder farmers, small businesses and nature. The team is creating the right environment for sovereign, sub-sovereign and inclusive insurance solutions to scale, working with governments to develop supportive insurance regulations and policies, and building the capacity of local industry to develop inclusive products, services and distribution channels. The insurance and risk finance work contributes to the Sustainable Finance Hub’s public, private and global policy portfolios, with the team also providing technical assistance to help governments integrate risk finance and insurance into all aspects of public financial planning and management. 

The Tripartite Agreement Programme is one of the main programmes of the IRFF. It is a public-private partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) to strengthen insurance markets, enhance governments’ institutional risk management capacity and develop innovative risk financing solutions to help developing countries and communities become more financially resilient to climate risks. Through the Tripartite Programme, UNDP has been working with governments and the insurance industry to strengthen urban flood resilience through the development of risk transfer solutions, disaster risk finance strategies, regulatory, policy and legislative reforms, and government capacity building programmes. This work is anchored in local demand and institutions and integrated into broader public and development policies to ensure its sustainability. This experience has generated lessons learned and has also resulted in innovations ranging from the design of a forecast-based flood model (Argentina) to a pioneering urban flood insurance programme in a megacity protecting 4m people (Lagos).

Now it is the time to reflect on the lessons learned and best practices from existing urban flood risk transfer programmes, including the Tripartite, to date and then identify pathways to institutionalize and scale this work by analysing the demand from cities, documenting the breadth of insurance solutions to address flood risk, operationalizing insurance and risk finance within disaster risk reduction (DRR) and risk management strategies, evaluating the enabling conditions for implementation and developing frameworks to monitor urban flood resilience solutions. The findings of this analysis will be shared with governments, insurance industry, development practitioners, donors and other partners to co-create the next generation of urban flood resilience programmes. 

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