Why connecting Africa is so important for all of us

Among the key concerns of connecting Africa discussed during the EURO AFrican Hub project launched by OISTE and theh City of Malaga are that Internet services needed for creating business, improving government and developing consumer applications continue to be either very expensive or not available due to limited broadband network infrastructure in Africa; and that rural connectivity and access remain inadequate as does the availability of locally relevant content, applications and services.

A person in a high-income country is over 22 times more likely to be an Internet user than someone in a low-income country. And in high-income countries, mobile phones are 29 times more prevalent, and mainline penetration is 21 times that of low-income countries (UNCTAD 2006). The few Internet users in Africa pay exorbitant charges for a service that tends to be slower than elsewhere in the world owing to low bandwidth problems. The penetration of broadband stands at just about 2% of total Internet usage, and the continent boasts 0.1% of the world’s broadband connections, compared to its share of the global mobile connections of 4%. This in turn makes the Internet less useful for those Africans that have access to it than it is for their counterparts in America, Asia, and Europe.

Consequently, it becomes especially difficult for the majority of Africans with access to the Internet to engage in any meaningful trade and business using the Internet, implying for instance that they can hardly take advantage of the numerous Business Process Outsourcing Opportunities from which other countries such as India, Thailand and the Philippines are reaping huge benefits. Some argue that with the current Internet costs and usage levels in Africa, and the low penetration of broadband connectivity, it remains a big challenge to meaningfully employ the Internet to promote trade and agriculture, or education and health services delivery, in Africa.

In 2006, the mobile phone became the first communications technology to have more users in developing countries than in developed ones, with more than 800 million mobile phones sold in developing countries in the preceding three years. African countries have been a key contributor to this achievement, as they have registered the world’s highest mobile phone growth, ranging from 50% to 400% in the last three years. But as ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré has pointed out, Africa’s goal should be to replicate the success of the mobile phone in broadband capability, with the aim of achieving “Internet access in every village, every school, every university, every hospital.”

Carlos and Anne Moreira to protect Kids on the Internet

Anne Moreira is the centrepiece of a new internet project launched yesterday in New York designed to protect children from sexually explicit online sites and predatory contacts.

Anne Moreira, made children's internet security her main issue at the Global Clinton Initiative because of her own concern as mother of 6 kids.

The project will federate technology companies providing internet blocking mechanisms that have existed for years plus education for kids and parents who walks them through their online experience.

Using Technology to improve services and promoting new technology as a key ingredient in the growth of local businesses.

Carlos from the Global Clinton Initiative 2007 in New York
For many, globalization heralds the free movement of people, capital and ideas. But the benefits of globalization have yet to reach billions of people for whom economic mobility remains an aspiration rather than a reality. At a time of unprecedented wealth in many countries, three billion people survive on less than two dollars per day. In short, globalization is anything but global.

Making globalization work for the world’s poor is imperative. Our economies depend on the capacity of robust markets to interact and yield benefits for both producers and consumers.
Reversing the tide of poverty requires action on multiple fronts: governance, education, and health among them. Two essential tools will be trade and technology. Trade offers the possibility of increasing producers’ incomes and building real assets that can sustain economic growth. Technology offers the possibility of universal access to the knowledge that can spawn innovation.

But even with these powerful instruments at our disposal, the gap between rich and poor is increasing. Rising inequality is also evident in the patterns of global trade. While foreign investment has expanded dramatically across the developed world, the world’s least developed countries see less than 3% of north-south investment. Agricultural commodity prices have fallen steadily over the last decade, and the vast majority of the world’s poorest people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. The net result is that most farmers are simply unable to produce enough for their basic needs: 17% of those living in the developing world are undernourished. In Africa that figure rises to 33%.

Meanwhile, as the world’s rich countries move swiftly to build on the extraordinary potential of new information technology, much of the developing world remains disconnected and effectively disenfranchised. Though it represents 23% of the world’s total population, Southeast Asia has only 1% of the world’s Internet users. There are more phone lines in Manhattan than in all of Africa. Even in the United States, only 60% of the population has Internet access.

Daunting as these challenges may be, people around the world are taking strides toward rendering trade and technology better tools in the global fight against poverty. But enormous questions remain: How, in an increasingly complex and uncertain global trade environment, can trade benefit the world’s poorest producers? How, absent either the necessary infrastructure or the capital required to make costly investments, can technology work for the poor? And finally, how – given finite resources for development assistance – can we hope to finance meaningful change?

The poverty working group at the Clinton Global Initiative seeks answers to these questions and concrete steps that people can take. Alleviating global poverty is not simply a matter of enlightened self-interest; it is, indeed, one of the greatest moral challenges of our time, and a necessary act of human solidarity.

CO2SAVER, a free program for Windows XP and Vista seems to have solved the problem.

http://co2saver.snap.com/

CO2SAVER, a free program for Windows XP and Vista seems to have solved the problem. It gives you a simple pre-configured control panel that specifies when to put the machine (and attached monitors) to sleep. It also tweaks some hard-to-configure settings that, according to its developer, Lee Hasiuk, defeats Windows attempts to keep a machine awake if it thinks (correctly or otherwise) that it is detecting a background task other than mouse or keyboard activity.

It can save over 2,500 lbs. of CO2...

If you're buying a new PC, check out a laptop as they often use just 20% of the power of a desktop PC & monitor (even with a big 17" screen).
Apple's all-in-one iMac is also power-thrifty even the giant 24" screen version. (Macintoshes don't need CO2Saver as they already go to sleep when inactive.)

And don't forget to turn your TVs, VCRs, DVDs and stereos OFF. They could be costing you over $250 per year per year per set.

The International Organization for Secure Electronic Transactions OISTE.ORG , a Geneva, Switzerland non for profit organization, mobilizes the public

The International Organization for Secure Electronic Transactions OISTE.ORG , a Geneva, Switzerland non for profit organization, mobilizes the public and private sector towards a global information privacy standard approach to enable accountability in the flow of data.

OISTE.ORG is working since 1998 with public and private organizations mobilizingthem towards the creation of a global standard on privacy. Privacy is a central issue in the convergent and ubiquitous world. Countries clearly recognize the inherent challenge that the present expansion of the Internet with its invisible, intuitive and pervasive system of networked computers holds for current social norms and values concerning privacy and surveillance.

Privacy is generally considered by the majority of governments and private sector institutions to be an indispensable ingredient for democratic societies and economic development. There is no clear standard for Privacy as it can be consider a new fenemenum and a inherent challenge from ubiquitous computing, at least as it stands as a design concept today,

There are five universal common concepts which could be associated to the definition of privacy and use as a base for the elaboration of an international standard. These concepts are: Privacy, Anonymity, Surveillance , Security and Trust. Privacy and and ‘anonymity’ are related concepts, but with some important differences. With respect to communications, privacy implies the personal possession of personal information and the subsequent terms and conditions by which it is used, retained, and disclosed to others. Anonymity, however, implies an absence of information about a person and relates to the terms and conditions by which such information might be collected in the first instance. Both concepts highlight the importance of empowering people to control information about themselves. ‘Surveillance’ is also related to privacy, but implies something quite specific as the intentional observation of
someone’s actions or the intentional gathering of personal information in order to observe actions taken in
the past or future. Unwanted surveillance is usually taken to be an invasion of privacy. This concept
highlights the importance of privacy as a utility that protects people against unwanted intrusions and the right to be left alone. ‘Security’ is a term often used in software development to describe the capability of a technical system to protect and maintain the integrity of personal data circulating within that system. Privacy violations can occur when a system is not secure and it leaks personal data to unauthorized parties. This concept highlights the importance of providing regulating mechanisms to balance and check powers of those that provide and those that collect data. Finally, the term ‘trust’ suggests the quality of a reciprocal relationship between two or more parties with respect to the use and disclosure of personal information and the respect of privacy rights. This concept highlights the importance of dignity and mutual obligations between human beings (often interacting through corporate or other bureaucratic systems)

More information on how to join the OISTE working group on Privacy standardization please visit www.oiste.org

Carlso Moreira parte de los Españoles "globalizados" en el Davos chino

De izquierda a derecha de la imagen, Valentín Chapero, consjero delegado de Sonova; Lázaro Campos, director general de Swift; y Carlos Moreira, fundador de Wisekey


Españoles "globalizados" en el Davos chino

Aunque apenas hay empresas de nuestro país en la reunión del Foro Económico Mundial en Dalian, algunos españoles participantes dirigen importantes firmas extranjeras
por Pablo M. Díez desde Pekín

Entre los asistentes destacan Jaime Varsavsky, fundador de Jazztel, Ya.com y Fon; Carlos Moreira, cuya empresa, Wisekey, ha sido seleccionada como una de las cien con más proyección de futuro; o Lázaro Cámpos, que dirige la compañía que gestiona los "swifts" con los que se realizan la mayoría de las transacciones bancarias en todo el mundo

ENVIADO ESPECIAL

DALIAN (CHINA). Apenas ha habido empresas españolas en la reunión veraniega que el Foro Económico Mundial de Davos ha celebrado estos días en la ciudad china de Dalian, que concluyó ayer. Aunque a este importante encuentro han acudido 1.700 participantes pertenecientes a las más famosas multinacionales de 90 países – 600 de ellos altos directivos –, hacía falta una lupa para encontrar a la escasa, pero meritoria, representación española.

Aquí sólo estaban Martin Varsavsky, un visionario hispano-argentino famoso por fundar Jazztel, Ya.com y Fon; el presidente del Círculo Tecnológico de Cataluña, Carles Flamerich; y dos “jóvenes líderes globales”, Juan José Nieto y Ana María Plaza. Ambos han sido elegidos por el Foro de Davos por representar a la nueva generación de empresarios que están cambiando el planeta.

Nieto, fundador de Palmera Capital y Servicios y presidente de Service Point Solutions, ha trabajado para Goldman Sachs y ha sido director general de Telefónica entre 1997 y 2003 y consejero de Antena 3.

Por su parte, Plaza es la directora financiera de Telvent, la filial del Grupo Abengoa especializada en la aplicación de las tecnologías de la información para la gestión medioambiental, del tráfico, el transporte y la energía.


Junto a ellos, los otros españoles presentes en Dalian ocupan altos cargos en distintas firmas extranjeras. Es el caso de Carlos Moreira, nacido en Cádiz pero afincado en Suiza desde hace más de veinte años. Tras trabajar para la ONU como experto en seguridad informática y diseñar una de las primeras páginas web del mundo, fundó en 1999 su propia compañía, Wisekey, que ha sido elegida por el Foro de Davos como una de las cien con más posibilidades de futuro.

Wisekey, que factura unos 200 millones de euros y cuenta con 120 trabajadores y dos centros de investigación en Bilbao y Valencia, no sólo ofrece mecanismos de seguridad en las comunicaciones electrónicas, sino que aspira a convertirse en la puerta de acceso a internet para los usuarios en español a través de sistemas personalizados. “Es una aberración depender de portales extranjeros traducidos al castellano”, explicó a ABC Moreira, recientemente elegido Hombre del Año en Suiza.

En este país también triunfa Valentín Chapero, cuyos padres emigraron a Alemania en 1963, cuando él tenía cinco años, y hoy dirige Sonova, el gigante electrónico especializado en audífonos que antes se denominaba Phonak. Licenciado en Física por la Universidad de Heidelberg y empleado en multinacionales como Nixdorf o Siemens, fue fichado como consejero delegado de Phonak en 2002. Desde entonces, los beneficios han mejorado un 10% y la empresa ha crecido cada año un 20%.

Otro español ilustre en el mundo de los negocios es Lázaro Campos, también conocido como “Mr. Swift” por dirigir la compañía belga que se encarga de la mayoría de las transacciones financieras en todo el mundo. A través de estos famosos “swifts” bancarios se mueven más de 4.000 millones de euros al día, por lo que Campos se enorgullece de que “nunca se ha perdido un mensaje o se ha entregado a otro destinatario”,

Nombrado director general de Society for the Worlwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT SCRL) en 2003, después de veinte años en la compañía, Campos es otro español que no ha sido profeta en su tierra, pero que demuestra el alto nivel al que puede llegar el empresariado en nuestro país.

“La economía y las empresas españolas han tenido un gran éxito, pero faltan más líderes emprendedores que potencien nuestra presencia en los foros globales”, se queja Ángel Cabrera, presidente de la prestigiosa Escuela Thunderbird de Gestión Empresarial, en Estados Unidos. Cabrera atribuye esta escasa representación a “nuestros déficits a la hora de hablar inglés y al falso mito de que en España se vive mejor que en el resto del mundo, lo que nos paraliza a la hora de salir al exterior”.

Algo que no parece haber afectado a Rafael Gil-Tienda, presidente en Asia de Marsh & McLennan, ni a Javier García-Blanch, un experto ingeniero informático de Accenture. Ambos estaban presentes en Dalian junto a Jaime De Borbón y Parma, un miembro de la Casa Real nacido en Holanda que pertenece al equipo de la comisaria de Competencia de la UE, Neelie Kroes.


Mención aparte merecen la notable participación de empresarios y expertos latinoamericanos, sobre todo mexicanos como Rafael Rangel, presidente del Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, y Eugenio Madero, director del fabricante de componentes de automoción Sanluis Rassini.


Para paliar la ausencia de las empresas de nuestro país en tan importante evento, todos ellos han puesto estos días una pica española en el Davos chino.

WISeKey Selected by the World Economic Forum as one of the top 500 mould-breaking companies New Champions

WISeKey Selected by the World Economic Forum as one of the top 500 mould-breaking companies New Champions

The WEF is creating, in close partnership with the government of the People’s Republic of China, a community of “the New Champions”, with their own Davos-like summit in the booming city of Dalian.

The inaugural meeting will take place from 6 to 8 September 2007 and will bring together New Champion CEOs with existing members, creating a powerful platform for interaction and cooperation between traditional and new actors.

The meeting will welcome 1,500 participants to the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions. CEOs will be joined by international government leaders, leaders of the world’s most competitive cities and the fastest growing regions and states, gurus of the Web 2.0 world, some of the most remarkable leaders from our Community of Young Global Leaders and the international media to make this an exceptional event.

WISekey is selected as one of the top 500 mould-breaking companies New Champions. The WEF call these mould-breaking companies New Champions. Why? Because they have a proven track record of success - but also because they are ready to take the next step and join the global top-500 companies within the next five to ten years.

Carlos Moreira Men of the Year Patrick De Smedt Speech

Patrick presentation during the event. Patrick is now member of WISekey Boartd of Directors. Before his appointment as Chairman of Microsoft EMEA, Patrick De Smedt became Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa in February 2001. His responsibilities lay in Southern & Central Europe, including Austria, Benelux, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland as well as Africa.

Previous to that role, Patrick was Vice President of EMEA, responsible for Enterprise Business Development. He dedicated his time to engaging with EMEA global accounts, helping to win the top regional enterprise projects and being a spokesperson for the many CIO and CEO events across the region.

Prior to this, since July 1998, Patrick headed the Enterprise Group for Microsoft EMEA, also in a Vice President capacity, where he was responsible for Microsoft's sales, marketing, enterprise partners and services for enterprise customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Patrick De Smedt was also General Manager of Microsoft Benelux, managing the operations in the Netherlands and Belgium subsidiaries. He founded both the Netherlands and Belgium subsidiaries in 1986 and 1989 respectively.

Patrick De Smedt began his career at Microsoft in 1983 at Microsoft France as the OEM Sales Manager for Southern Europe. In this role he was responsible for the sales of Microsoft products and applications to hardware manufacturers and large accounts in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the Benelux region.

Before joining Microsoft, De Smedt was a software manager for Altos Computer Systems and was responsible for the acquisition and support of software products on Altos hardware for the European market. De Smedt started his career at Tymshare as project leader for the Benelux region.

Born in 1955, De Smedt received a Commercial Engineer degree from the University of Louvain, Belgium in 1977, where he is a Honorary Fellow.

Carlos Moreira Global Action with the UN

Summary of projects with the UN. Originally a former United Nations expert in Telecommunications, Security and Information Networks, Carlos Moreira has been responsible for research, development, implementation, analyses and negotiations related to technology, e-security and e-commerce for the United Nations and specialized agencies. He has focused in particular on the relationship between information technologies, security, telecommunications, and international trade networks. His main focus was and is now to empower people with new technologies.

11 Years ago in South Africa at a UN Summit

11 Years ago in South Africa at a UN Summit I started to develop applications wich allows users via a 3d Immersion to access virtual locations using their digital identifications to perform transactions. This sector has evolved significantly in several areas such as identifying a patient from digital medical images, real estate simulations, etc. Now we are working at WISeKey with this technology to combine digital identification to 3D facial recognition, providing a very powerful recognition and identification system.

El linense Carlos Moreira, Hombre del Año 2007

El linense Carlos Moreira, Hombre del Año 2007 en asuntos financieros en Suiza
El Pais publica el triunfo de otro linense universal
Carlos Moreira (La Línea de la Concepción, 1958), acaba de ser distinguido como Hombre del Año 2007 por la principal publicación de las finanzas y la tecnología de Suiza. En 1999 creó Wisekey (www.wisekey.com), una potente empresa de seguridad digital conceptuada como de las más fiables del mundo. Es patrocinador del 'Alinghi', de cuya seguridad tecnológica es responsable, y tras descubrir Valencia quiere realizar una fuerte apuesta para inscribirla en la nueva economía. Diario de La Linea articulo

El Pais: Lo decía el pasado lunes Carlos Moreira en este periódico

Lo decía el pasado lunes Carlos Moreira en este periódico. O convertimos Valencia y alrededores en un hub (centro de redes) tecnológico del Mediterráneo o vestimos santos. Es la apuesta por la sociedad del conocimiento, que llega a esta tierra junto con la Copa América, la Fórmula 1 o la pelea por ser punto de salida para cables marítimos hacia África, puertos electrónicos y otras muchas recomendaciones que en 2006 hacían Alvin y Heidi Toffler en La Revolución de la Riqueza. La innovación es, además, la base de la competitividad. La sociedad del conocimiento no necesita tanta agua ni tanto cemento para hacer negocio.

Clinton Global Initiative Commitment from WISekey

WISeKey is committed to providing the necessary identity management and transaction platform to enable a new approach of cash flow management to reduce operations costs, intermediaries and other sources which result in the loss of aid, remittances and micro-credit initiatives, as well as to increase the awareness and control capability of those providing the funds. WISeKey and the OISTE Foundation developed for this commitment the NETeID Social Network. The NETeID System was designed as a set of online tools intended to empower poor and excluded people around the world to access via their digital identities different sources of assistances and interventions. The system is designed to constitute a global social network that pulls data from all tools into one easy-to-manage web interface which will include a combination of digital identity, security, privacy, web access, blogging and remittances services. Enabling the poor to access the NETeID Social Network may bring them information and services to empower them to become confident, productive members of a healthy society. Full Commitment

Kofi Annan lance en septembre un forum humanitaire à Genève

Kofi Annan lance en septembre un forum humanitaire à Genève
| 21h47 - Cette nouvelle fondation internationale devrait fonctionner à la manière du WEF de Davos.
- Les décideurs du monde entier vont débarquer.


© Keystone | Kofi Annan. Il met son fabuleux carnet d’adresses au service de l’humanitaire.

Agrandir la taille du texte Réduire la taille du texte Imprimer l'article Envoyer par email Réagir sur l'article Recommander LINN LEVY | 15 Avril 2007 | 21h47
Le bruit courait depuis plusieurs mois. Depuis le jour où Kofi Annan, l’ancien secrétaire général de l’ONU, a choisi Genève pour passer une «retraite» active. Tout le monde connaît l’énergie déployée par le Ghanéen pour faire avancer la cause humanitaire, progresser la paix et le développement et réduire la pauvreté. Dans les milieux internationaux, on pariait que l’homme continuerait son combat en créant une fondation.

La chose a été confirmée hier par la NZZ am Sonntag. Kofi Annan va ouvrir un Forum humanitaire international (FHI) à Genève. Et ce, dès septembre. Le projet a, dès l’origine, reçu le soutien de la Confédération et bien sûr la collaboration de sa présidente Micheline Calmy-Rey, qui a fait de la promotion de la Genève internationale l’une des priorités de sa politique. «Le Département fédéral des affaires étrangères (DFAE) est en contact avec divers partenaires – institutions et personnes – concernant ce projet de nouvelle fondation installée à Genève, dévoile Jean-Philippe Jeannerat, chef de l’information du DFAE. L’institution, dans laquelle Kofi Annan va jouer un rôle central, œuvrera dans le domaine humanitaire sur le plan international.»

Le Davos humanitaire
Et le FHI fonctionnera vraisemblablement à la manière du World Economic Forum de Davos. Dès l’automne, c’est donc à Genève que les décideurs du monde entier vont façonner l’avenir de l’action humanitaire. Car Kofi Annan, maître dans l’art de la diplomatie et de la communication, possède un carnet d’adresses à faire pâlir Klaus Schwaab. Nul doute qu’il persuadera les puissants de se mettre au chevet du monde. Et la cité du bout du lac profitera des retombées, tant médiatiques qu’économiques, de ce Forum. «Personne ne s’étonnera que l’on fasse appel à Kofi Annan pour diriger cette fondation, explique Marie Heuzé, directrice de l’information de l’ONU. Son engagement et son expérience dans le domaine sont hors du commun.»

Les rencontres – on parle d’une grande réunion annuelle et de plusieurs petites sessions – se dérouleront donc au cœur de la Genève internationale. Le secrétariat permanent de l’institution s’installera, sans frais, dans la villa Rigot, propriété du canton située à deux pas de la place des Nations, abritant actuellement le Réseau universitaire international de Genève (RUIG). Le canton et la Confédération soutiennent donc le projet de concert. Pour quel montant? «S’agissant de l’engagement officiel de la Suisse, le Conseil fédéral devrait prendre les décisions dans le courant de l’année», précise Jean-Philippe Jeannerat.

Avec l’accueil du Forum de Kofi Annan, Genève confirme son statut de capitale des droits de l’homme, de l’humanitaire et de la paix.

Vinton G. Cerf Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist Google with Carlos Moreira Founder and President of WISekey

Vinton G. Cerf Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist Google with Carlos Moreira Founder and President of WISekey and Patrick de Smedt, Chairman of WISekey Strategy Advisory Board and member of the Board at the ICANN's 28th Meeting.
Consultations meeting held at ICANN to discuss plans for WISekey to deploy digital identities to a broaden community. Carlos Moreira discussed with Vinton Cerf on his capacity as chairman of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), WISekey’s and OISTE foundation plans to present to increase trust and security on the Internet by associating trusted Top Level Domains with strong identification and secure access. WISekey is deploying a global digital identification infartsructure enpowering users to move to transactional operations on the Internet.

WISekey is working with governments, NGOs, the Clinton Global Initiative
and International Organizations is committed to providing the necessary identity management and transaction platform to enable a new approach of cash flow management to reduce operations costs, intermediaries and other sources which result in the loss of aid, remittances and micro-credit initiatives, as well as to increase the awareness and control capability of those providing the funds. WISeKey and the OISTE Foundation developed for this commitment the NETeID Social Network. The NETeID System was designed as a set of online tools intended to empower poor and excluded people around the world to access via their digital identities different sources of assistances and interventions. The system is designed to constitute a global social network that pulls data from all tools into one easy-to-manage web interface which will include a combination of digital identity, security, privacy, web access, blogging and remittances services. Enabling the poor to access the NETeID Social Network may bring them information and services to empower them to become confident, productive members of a healthy society.

WISeKey, in cooperation with the International Organization for Secure Transactions Foundation (OISTE.org), will be providing a Digital Identification Infrastructure designed to support a network of 20,000 Identification Authorities worldwide with the objective to issue a billion digital identities. Each of these 20,000 Identification Authorities operating from 189 countries will be authorized to issue Digital Identities locally.

“INCREASE TOURISM TO FIGHT POVERTY” -

“INCREASE TOURISM TO FIGHT POVERTY”

Madrid, 2 January 2007 - The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said today that 2007 should be a critical year to consolidate tourism as a key agent in the fight against poverty and a primary tool for sustainable development.

Against a projection of continuing worldwide growth in international tourism of more than 4% for international arrivals and revenues, Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli called for renewed effort to include sustainable tourism in the international development agenda, as a key tool to advance the Millennium Development Goals.

http://www.unwto.org/newsroom/Releases/2007/january/newyearmessage.htm

Insurance for the Poor

Households in developing countries are exposed to high risks, with important consequences on their welfare. They range from individual-specific (illness, theft or unemployment), to economy-wide risks (drought, recession, etc.). It has long been acknowledged that these shocks have important implications, not least for the poor, including short-term effects on consump-tion and nutrition, resulting in calls for and the establishment of safety nets or other social secu-rity mechanisms. This paper goes beyond this view by arguing, first, that the costs related to these risks are much higher than a simple con-sideration of short-term costs, and secondly, that expanding insurance provision for the poor could be an important instrument with substan-tial long-term welfare benefits. Most impor-tantly, this paper discusses the scope and prob-lems related to the expansion of insurance mechanisms and products, with a focus on Latin America, starting from a consideration of how risk affects the poor and the ways in which they respond to it. The paper discusses the most promising products, institutional setup and the required regulatory framework to successfully expand insurance for the poor. http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/Insurance_for_the_Poor.pdf