Founder and Deep Expertise
Dr. Jerry Skees has spent four decades at the forefront of disaster risk financing — founding GlobalAgRisk to build the evidence base for index-based insurance, and co-founding Global Parametrics, whose Natural Disaster Fund, backed by the UK and German governments and HannoverRe, delivers parametric risk protection across the globe.
He established GCDRP to advance the next frontier: mainstreaming early action into how public and private stakeholders finance and manage disaster risk before crises strike. To do so, GCDRP draws on a diverse network of professionals spanning climate science, financial modeling, inclusive finance, legal and regulatory frameworks, and public policy.
“Getting cash in quickly saves lives and money.”
GCDRP operates at the intersection of research, advisory work, and field application — engaging multilateral institutions, humanitarian organizations, financial inclusion networks, reinsurers, and insurtech platforms to strengthen climate risk management and community resilience worldwide.
GCDRP today
Our approach advances five priorities:
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Enhancing ex-ante financing within a systems framework for disaster risk management
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Improving financial market efficiency and capacity to manage natural disaster risk
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Advising market participants on forward-looking disaster risk management decisions
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Advancing extreme-event forecasting for more timely anticipatory action
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Informing policy leaders on national and global disaster risk management priorities
— Dr. Jerry Skees, Founder and President, GCDRP
A History of Breakthroughs
1985 - 2002 ◦ EARLY Foundations
1985
1991
1994
1995
1997
2001
2002
Crop insurance
Group risk plans
sign up dates
Reinsurance agreement
Agricutlural Index insurance
livestock index insurance
Ethiopia / ARC
New rate-making procedure for U.S. Crop Insurance
Development of the first U.S. index insurance program
Change in signup dates for U.S. Crop Insurance
Widely used model for the Standard Reinsurance Agreement
Introduced the World Bank to index insurance for smallholder farmers
Designed Mongolia/World Bank's globally aclaimed IBLIP
Analysis and advisory breakthroughs - forerunner for the African Risk Capacity Group
2008 - 2017 ◦ Global INNOVATIONS
2008
Business interruption product
Designed of of Southeast Asia's first parametric business interruption products for coffee farmers in Dak Lak, Vietnam
2009
flooding product
Designed a parametric risk transfer product for early-season Mekong Delta flooding, triggering payments before losses escapate
2011
world's first forecast product
Designed the world's first forecast-based insurance product, approved by the Peruvian regulator, enabling pre-event payments
2011
first enso contract
Designed the world's first insurance contract using seas-surface temperature as a trigger for El Niño-linked payments in Peru
2012
enabling environment - Global
Contributed to legal and regulatory frameworks for index insurance at Base, IAIS, and UN levels, establishing standards still used today
2015-16
protecting microfinance institutions
Foundational work with VisionFund International leading to ongoing MFI protection through the Natural Disaster Fund
2016-17
Drought Facility /ARC Replica
Led early efforts with the UK-based Start Network on a drought facility that became a precursor to ARC Replica
Current ◦ Active
Global Parametrics Impact
Providing risk protection across 70 countries and 31 million beneficiaries covering six perils — reaching scale across emerging and frontier markets
Financing for Shock-Driven Food Security
Led the FAO Chief Economist's Task Force to design a $100M anticipatory financing facility for emerging food crises, endorsed by the G7 and backed by MunichRe
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Press Release ↗
Risk Monitor ↗
Global Risk Integration Protocols
Coming soon
Micro-Resilience Analytics
Coming soon
Our Team
Collaborators
Janot Mendler de Suarez
Upmanu Lall
Tim Neilander
IFRC Climate Centre
Bringing deep expertise in anticipatory action and climate-risk decision-making from her work with the IFRC Climate Centre.
Arizona State University
Advancing next-generation forecast-based insurance and extreme-weather risk management through innovative research.
GP3
Strategic partner from GP3 contributing to global disaster risk financing policy and international collaboration frameworks.