Regional participants of a microfinance workshop were challenged to develop an insurance culture and assist in the development of microinsurance products.

UNDP Pacific Centre manager Garry Wiseman, while opening the three-day training workshop on key financial performance indicators in Nadi on Wednesday, said it was the goal of the centre to empower the participants with tool and knowledge to develop microinsurance in their countries.

"Microinsurance is a means for low income earners to mitigate against shocks, these are events such as recurring sickness, death of the primary income earner or destruction of crops, assets and sources of livelihoods, which is a regular occurrence in the Pacific.

In other words to provide them a social safety net," he said.The workshop was organised by the partners of Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) and Inclusive Finance for the Underserved (INFUSE) in partnership with ILO's Microinsurance Innovation Facility and the Microinsurance Network.

The 20 participants are insurance providers and regulators from Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Fiji.The workshop aims to improve the skill-set of microinsurance managers for the analysis and interpretation of financial performance ratios.

"Every year, the global Microinsurance Network and its partners hold several microinsurance training globally and this training on Key Performance Indicators is the first to be held in this region."In partnership with the Microinsurance Network, global partners GIZ, ADA and BRS have collaborated to provide materials and resources for this regional workshop," a statement from PFIP said.

"Earlier in the workshop, the participants collectively mentioned that, while microinsurance is the current buzzword globally, they would like to get past this buzz to expand their knowledge base and determine best products and legislations for microinsurance in the Pacific."Regional Financial Inclusion Advisor and PFIP manger, Tillman Bruett, said, PFIP enjoyed bringing new knowledge to the region, getting people together and new ideas to fruition.

"We expect great things to come out from this training," he said.