As part of the Oporajita collective, this initiative focuses on climate resilience with a blended finance model that protects workers and stabilizes the sector.
Review the ProposalThe Oporajita framework, initiated by the H&M Foundation and managed by The Asia Foundation, unites partners under a shared vision of equitable climate resilience and sustainable transition for Bangladesh’s RMG sector.
Originator of Oporajita, fostering a multi-partner model for collective impact.
Attributed to heat stress alone — demonstrating the urgent economic need for adaptive resilience systems.
Illustrative correlation between climate exposure and productivity
The UNCDF-led workstream under Oporajita’s Enabling Environment pillar, building climate microinsurance for worker protection.
Serves as the program’s central coordinator, ensuring strategic alignment and shared metrics.
A just transition for RMG workers facing automation and climate disruption, through inclusive resilience systems.
RMG workers face direct exposure to climate volatility — a systemic risk undermining livelihoods, health, and sector-wide productivity.
Workers face uninsurable financial shocks from climate-related illness and factory downtime.
Rising out-of-pocket expenses for heat stress and water-borne diseases deepen household debt cycles.
Worker absenteeism and heat-related disruptions reduce factory output and threaten supply chain stability.
A specialized ecosystem where each partner executes a core function to de-risk, underwrite, and deliver a scalable climate insurance product.
UNCDF: Product design, seed grant, and technical assistance.
Partner Bank: Manages the First-Loss Guarantee Facility.
Local Insurer: Underwrites the mass-market parametric product.
MFS Provider: Manages payroll deduction & mass payouts.
dRi/Biddyanondo: Provides onboarding & financial literacy.
Our analysis recommends a parametric model. Unlike indemnity, it does not require individual loss assessment, enabling instant, transparent, and low-friction payouts at scale.
Product is linked to verifiable public data from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), e.g., "temperature exceeds 40°C for 3 consecutive days."
When a trigger is met, a payout is automatically disbursed to all enrolled workers in the affected area via their MFS (e.g., bKash) accounts. No claims forms needed.
The 'Hands' partners (dRi, Biddyanondo) manage in-factory onboarding and financial literacy, building the trust required for high adoption rates.
Our viability analysis identifies three critical partners — the Bank, the Insurer, and the MFS Provider — as pivotal to ensuring product scalability, risk mitigation, and mass accessibility.
Manages the First-Loss Guarantee Facility — fulfilling ESG mandates while safeguarding RMG loan portfolios.
Underwrites the parametric microinsurance — providing coverage at scale while integrating digital claims verification.
Serves as the digital backbone for collections and payouts — ensuring instant claim disbursement to workers.
A phased approach focused on establishing partnerships, securing regulatory approval, and validating the model in a live factory environment.
Months 1–3: Partnership & Legal
Months 4–6: Product & Tech
Months 7–9: Field Validation
Months 10–12: M&E and Scale