Involving the community at the outset is the key for successful implementation of a Health micro-insurance Scheme. However, owing to time limitations and lack of resources, it may not be possible to consult the entire community. In such circumstances, it is advised to have a Working Group, comprising of women and men from the community with proper representation.
Usually, on forming a Working Group from the community, it is often seen that its members are completely new to the concepts and practices of health micro-insurance. Before expecting any tasks from them, it is essential to orient them in this direction. It is suggested that the members of the Working Group should have attained a certain level of schooling and also have a good rapport with the community; being from the same area itself, they will certainly have a good understanding of the community behaviour, its problems and attitudes.
Usually, on forming a Working Group from the community, it is often seen that its members are completely new to the concepts and practices of health micro-insurance. Before expecting any tasks from them, it is essential to orient them in this direction. It is suggested that the members of the Working Group should have attained a certain level of schooling and also have a good rapport with the community; being from the same area itself, they will certainly have a good understanding of the community behaviour, its problems and attitudes.
The Working Group members should be given an orientation to:
- The basic principles of Health micro-insurance
- The functioning and characteristics of Health micro-insurance
- The process for setting up the Health micro-insurance Scheme
- The management and operations of implementing the Health micro-insurance Scheme.
In addition to this, the Working Group members should also receive training on participatory research tools such as participatory rural appraisal, rapid rural survey, focus group discussions, data collection and analysis.
Tip: Do Not Conduct Pre-Feasibility Study in Isolation
In most situations, the promoters of a health micro-insurance scheme collect basic information and develop the product on their own without involving the community and then introduce it. This kind of approach creates differences between the expectations of the community and the functioning of the scheme. In most cases, such a scheme is destined to be a failure.
