Disaster risk financing (DRF) is a small but rapidly growing space where parametric insurance products are used to provide protection for people in the developing world. Within this arena, START Ready is a new and unique financing mechanism that uses advanced planning so that funding can be rapidly released when needed most. START Ready is now in its second year of operation, and after much hard work has secured (re)insurance to make more efficient use of the funds available. DRF has the potential to revolutionise the way we respond to humanitarian crises, but it has many challenges. In this session, the speakers will reflect on the experiences of 2 actuaries supporting START Ready on their journey: one sitting on the governance committee and another supporting START on procuring insurance. The session will: 

• provide an overview of the DRF space 
• outline real examples of the policies, payouts, and risk pools 
• discuss how we can overcome the current lack of data and models 
• discuss how the skills from the cat modelling and insurance world can be used to improve DRF 
• outline how actuarial skills and analysis are supplemented by those from wider skills and in-country 
• experience in supporting well informed decisions. 

Speakers: Andrew Jinks, Government Actuary's Department and Rachel Haldane, Start Network