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The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) began working with disaster risk finance (DRF) with its first investment in the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) in 2007. Since then, the team has grown into a group of professionals driving innovation and impact with strategic advice through a Community of Expertise including a World Bank (WB) London DRF Hub and the Centre for Disaster Protection, and improving access to financial protection including through the WB Risk Finance Umbrella, the Global Shield Financing Facility and investments in the regional risk pools and Natural Disaster Fund.

Their work also extends to the global policy arenas, contributing to G7, G20, COP, and climate finance discussions – focusing particularly on adaptation, loss and damage, and mobilizing private capital. The UK will chair the G20 in 2027 presenting an exciting opportunity to further this agenda.

In this interview, we explore the team’s journey through the eyes of Nicola Jenns, Disaster Risk Finance Adviser at the FCDO.

Can you briefly describe your team within the FCDO?

The FCDO DRF Team is composed of eight people. We work closely with our humanitarian and climate colleagues, based in-country, and delegations to the multilateral development banks (MDBs). We were formed around 2010, as the DRF agenda developed from CCRIF’s establishment in 2007 and the creation of African Risk Capacity (ARC) in 2013. I originally joined the team to work on hydromet strengthening and automatic funding for social protection by linking pre-arranged financing to early warnings and in anticipation of needs.

How does the FCDO DRF team collaborate with its local offices?

We work closely with our colleagues in British High Commissions and Embassies around the world, including the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Malawi, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. In these countries we have worked closely with the World Bank, through the London DRF Hub, and we have a growing track record of success in terms of cover, and links to delivery mechanisms, like social protection registries to ensure money is reaching people quickly.

For example, in 2025’s Hurricane Melissa, what role did the team play?

Jamaica is a global leader in DRF, with a comprehensive national strategy in place. We helped establish the risk finance systems that Jamaica made such beneficial use of during Hurricane Melissa. We were a founding member and also one of the most recent donors to CCRIF. Together with Germany, through the Global Shield Financing Facility (GSFF), we also provided grant support for Jamaica’s first catastrophe bond, which laid the groundwork for the second bond. In addition, we have collaborated closely with the World Bank and other multilateral development banks on their risk financing toolkits.

Can you describe a success story for your team?

A real success story is an event that does not lead to a disaster. For example, a community empowered to proactively manage and reduce its risks, where the DRF triggers automatically to fund anticipatory action for resilience, helping to mitigate or avoid damage, or through social protection that scales up rapidly to reach people who need it.

Where do you see the biggest areas for growth and what challenges need to be addressed?

Climate risk is increasing, along with the need and demand for cost-effective cover, including at community level, across sectors and for de-risking investments. Forecasting has also improved in accuracy, allowing DRF to trigger not only after impacts but also in advance. This means there is more cover and advanced triggering to be linked to existing systems like early warnings and social protection. Alongside partners, the UK is leading a Sevilla Platform for Action initiative to scale up the use of pre-arranged finance. One key challenge I see ahead is managing the affordability of cover, which will be crucial.

What does collaboration with the World Bank, particularly the London DRF Hub and GSFF, look like in practice?

The World Bank is our largest DRF multilateral partner and the leading provider of pre-arranged finance globally. We work closely on advisory support through the DRF Hub, on shock responsiveness for World Bank programs through the GSFF, and on the crisis finance toolkit. Working with the World Bank is highly valuable because it combines technical expertise with scale. For example, the GSFF has approximately US$425 million in grants from its donors, including Germany, UK, Japan, Canada, and Luxembourg, and leveraged this to integrate shock responsiveness into more than US$4 billion of wider programmes.

What motivates you personally to work in DRF, and how has your personal journey shaped your perspective on disaster resilience?

I have worked on DRF and insurance for 15 years in various roles and places worldwide. I am passionate about making the systems work better for people living and working in climate-vulnerable areas. While the technical aspects of these mechanisms are well understood, with goodwill from all those involved, there is still much more that needs to be done to achieve fully automatic systems that can scale up, link early warnings to effective early action and deliver real impact for people and communities.

Nicola is a disaster risk finance adviser with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, based in London. She holds two master’s degrees from the University of Oxford. During her career, she has worked in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean including over 15 years focused on disaster risk finance and insurance through the regional risk pools, international financial institutions, for humanitarian agencies, countries, communities, and utilities companies.