IACG begins nationwide insurance education, sensitization for market traders

The Insurance Awareness Coordinators Group (IACG) has announced the commencement of a nationwide campaign to educate people in market centers within the informal sector on insurance and other risk management themes.

The project which commenced last month is pulling together resource persons from players in the financial sector to undertake radio campaigns, community stakeholder engagements, and market durbars in 30 market locations across the 16 regions of Ghana.

The financial education project dubbed, the “Get Insured” Campaign, is being organized by the Insurance Awareness Coordinators Group, which is made up of the various insurance bodies comprising the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), and Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG), with support from the Programme for Sustainable Economic Development (PSED) of the German foreign aid agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

“One of the things plaguing the insurance sector is the lack of trust by the populace, and we seek to use education and sensitization to resolve this issue.

“We believe it is partly due to the lack of understanding of how insurance works, as well as some negative experiences some people have had with a few sector players.

“The mandate of the IACG is to address the concerns plaguing the sector via instruments including public education,” said Mr Wilson Tei, Chairman of IACG.

Within each selected market area across the 16 regions of Ghana, the roadshow will run for one week in their respective local languages.

Michael Andoh, Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, said, “The campaign will address the misunderstanding and apprehension towards accessing insurance products and services in Ghana in the informal sector of Ghana.

It will enhance public understanding of insurance and increase the penetration rate, which is estimated at less than two percent.”

Insurance resource persons in the industry deployed are expected to undertake activities including radio talk shows, stakeholders/market leaders meetings, a two-day durbar, and open-air market education.

IACG is an intra-industry body formed in May 2015 to undertake nationwide educational campaigns to sensitize Ghanaians on the importance of insurance to the socio-economic development of Ghana.

It has actively been championing mass insurance education campaigns across the country.