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DOWNLOAD THE GRIF ANNUAL REPORT 2020
Dear GRiF family,

When we began GRiF, the Global Risk Financing Facility, back in 2018, we really had no idea how much we would accomplish. Uncertainty did not stop us. Our ambition was as big as the problems the world faces. 

The year 2020 witnessed GRiF's expansion in a variety of ways. For instance, GRiF has awarded $85 million in new grants, bringing the total value of project grants to nearly $100 million. When the pandemic hit, GRiF responded to the pandemic by restructuring its pipeline to provide additional short- and medium-term grants to help countries prepare for potential compound shocks.
 
This Annual Report documents activities from July 2019 until June 2020, showing how GRiF supported planning in an uncertain world.

Going forward, GRiF will continue to invest in its pipeline and track the implementation of its operations on the ground. There’s always more we can do. Together, and thanks to you, we will do it.
GRIF: WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE DO, WHY WE MATTER
GRiF supports vulnerable countries so they can resist, rebound, and recover from the financial impacts of today’s inevitable shocks. We seek to strengthen financial resilience by enabling earlier and more reliable responses to and recovery from climate and disaster shocks. Over time, we will work to lessen the effects of a wider range of crises, by establishing or scaling up pre-arranged risk financing instruments, including market-based instruments like insurance. This is how we work with countries—so that they can respond better, recover sooner, and reduce the impact of disasters. Watch the GRiF introduction video. 
GRIF GRANT PORTFOLIO
GRiF is at work across the globe, offering support to dozens of countries and millions of people. In FY2020, we awarded six new project grants worth $83 million: these supported Afghanistan, Jamaica, Malawi, Morocco, and the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF), and included a global goods grant for Crisis Risk Analytics. We also awarded eight new scoping grants enabling countries to explore the possibility of future projects. Our progress this year brought the total value of our portfolio to nearly $100 million awarded across 15 full projects and 11 scoping projects. GRiF grants support $775 million in World Bank operations. Continue reading here. 
GRIF: OUR PRINCIPLES
GRiF grants are guided by a set of principles that represent our values. These principles were designed to maximize the impact of GRiF grants on the financial resilience of developing countries and the well-being of vulnerable people exposed to shocks and crises. The principles help guide strategic allocations for GRiF’s portfolio and offer guidance for technical enhancement of project implementation. The following country stories illustrate a selection of the GRiF principle in action. Continue reading here
GRiF Principle: Improvements in Preparedness and Resilience
GRiF supported projects have to show improvements in preparedness and resilience. This means that the impact of GRiF grants will stretch beyond increased uptake of DRF. They will also lead, directly or indirectly, to stronger risk management that incorporates new or improved elements of prevention, preparedness, and resilient recovery. For example, the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) is designed to operate as a regional platform that provides participating nations not only with financial instruments but also advisory services to increase preparedness. 
GRiF Principle: High-quality, Open data and Models
High-quality, open data and models are necessary to create sustainable, scaled-up risk financing. Data and risk modeling work developed with GRiF funding has to comply with data transparency, shareability, and reusability principles. This aims to draw on the best science and innovation, raise the standard of understanding, and leave a legacy of open data and information for a wide audience. GRiF's $5.5 million Crisis Risk Analytics grant brings together some of the world's most advanced risk analytics expertise, including the European Space Agency, to focus on creative uses of the latest technology to meet the unique challenges in low-income and FCV contexts.
KNOWLEDGE, COLLABORATION, AND LEARNING
By supporting the development and testing of innovative risk financing solutions, GRiF is itself an innovative pilot. Investments are expected to yield a variety of outcomes, all of which present a tremendous opportunity to learn about disaster and crisis risk finance for vulnerable countries. In FY20, the Secretariat established a strong MEL foundation that will be built on over the life of the facility. Continue reading here.
In FY20, GRiF set out how it will use its communications activities to contribute toward its mission. The communications strategy identified GRiF’s main audiences, core products for reaching them and developed an implementation plan. The GRiF website (http://www.globalriskfinancing.org/) is updated regularly to share information and engage a range of stakeholders. Continue reading here.
GRiF helps generate more strategic and collaborative thinking around risk finance by involving a large range of partners, including governments, development partners, private sector organizations, and the humanitarian community. As part of this effort, GRiF and World Bank leadership attend global and partner events to support and advocate for the climate and disaster risk finance and insurance agenda, to learn from other practitioners, and to share operational experience and lessons learned with the broader community. Continue reading here.
SPECIAL FEATURES
We are also always working to improve GRiF itself. Over the last 10 years, the DRF community has innovated in analytics and tools, which are proving to be useful for financial solutions being developed through GRiF. We have developed a Gender Action Plan to address the different needs of men and women in how we respond to events and the solutions we provide. Through supporting the development of the Start Financial Facility, we are helping the Start Network establish DRF mechanisms for national-level networks of civil society organizations for disaster response. All the while, we are extending risk financing solutions in World Bank projects in new sectors, including agriculture, energy, and water. Continue reading here
LESSONS LEARNED
Disasters – large, small, or in-between – are not going away. And the costs of dealing with them are not going down. GRiF is responding in a number of ways. We’re integrating GRiF grants for risk finance instruments into World Bank projects, demonstrating the value of making financial preparedness central to countries’ development planning. We’re strengthening the preparedness of low-capacity countries. And we’re applying tested risk financing solutions to new risks. All this helps provide governments with new ways to adapt and respond to the financial impact of climate shocks and crises. Continue reading here
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Related: Financial Protection Forum | Fundamentals of DRF E-learning | GFDRR 
Copyright © 2021 Global Risk Financing Facility, All rights reserved.

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