The UNDP’s Insurance and Risk Finance Facility, in collaboration with Milliman, launched the Global Actuarial Initiative (GAIN) in September 2022 to strengthen actuarial expertise and capacity in select developing countries. This initiative aims to empower governments and the insurance industry to better manage increasingly complex risks, particularly climate-related challenges. By fostering actuarial capacity and deepening local insurance markets, GAIN is paving the way for more resilient economies and societies.
Insurance is a cornerstone of economic resilience, and actuaries are essential to quantifying, pricing, and managing evolving risks. However, in many developing countries, the actuarial profession is still in its infancy, with only a handful of trained experts. Building actuarial capacity is crucial for enhancing financial resilience and expanding access to insurance. To address this, GAIN has been rolled out in 12 countries, with comprehensive roadmaps already underway in 8. Over the next few years, the initiative aims to expand to 20 countries. GAIN provides both short-term capacity-building training and long-term support for strategic policy development.
Through this initiative, actuarial professionals and academic leaders receive specialized training, while students benefit from mentorship programs. GAIN also assists regulators and public-sector entities in developing in-house actuarial expertise and improving data availability, which are critical for driving sustainable change. As part of this partnership, volunteers travel globally to collaborate with universities, insurers, and governments, offering training, mentorship, and guidance. By building local capacity and fostering international collaboration, GAIN is shaping the future of insurance and risk management in developing countries.
To advance its objectives, the UNDP’s GAIN program team made their inaugural visit to Pakistan on December 12, 2024. During the visit, they met with the faculty of the Actuarial Science and Risk Management (ASRM) department at IoBM. The discussion emphasized the need to raise awareness about the high-demand actuarial profession both locally and globally. The GAIN team expressed their appreciation for IoBM’s BS (ASRM) program, which has been successfully running for the past 15 years. The meeting concluded on a positive note, exploring potential future collaborations, including student and faculty development programs and specialized training opportunities under the GAIN initiative.
The following representatives of the UNDP GAIN initiative participated in the meeting:
IoBM’s panel of faculty members included:
This milestone visit marked a significant step toward fostering collaboration and strengthening the actuarial profession in Pakistan.