Emerging Insight #38: Radio: a tool to raise awareness and knowledge cheaply, but not change?

Radio: a tool to raise awareness and knowledge cheaply, but not change? New Emerging Insight from the ILO’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility.

Radio proves to be a cost-effective channel to raise awareness and increase knowledge about insurance.  This increased knowledge is not sufficient on its own, however, to change behaviour.

In 2010, Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) and the Association of Kenyan Insurance (AKI) launched a radio education campaign to improve risk-management and insurance literacy of low-income households. To measure the impact of the campaign, MFO and AKI assessed five outcomes:

1. Awareness of insurance and risk management techniques,
2. Knowledge of insurance-related terms,
3. Insurance behaviour,
4. Attitudes towards insurance, savings and risk management, and
5. Trust (of the industry and insurers).

Of these measures, the campaign had the largest impact on awareness of insurance products (18.8 percent higher amongst listeners compared to non-listeners), and knowledge of insurance terms and policies (8 percent higher).