South African insurer Hollard has launched an innovative and potentially life-saving scheme to speed the delivery of funds to social projects.

HUGinsure uses underwriting techniques to help organisations deploy capital with confidence.

The scheme, developed in partnership with Dalberg Global Development Advisors, Aon and Lloyd’s, aims to accelerate more than $US400 million ($427.85 million) to global development efforts by 2018.

Hollard Australia MD Richard Enthoven says the company identified a huge amount of development capital “in waiting”.

“To give an example, donors want to give money to buy malaria nets, but not until they have checked certain things out – where the nets have come from, whether the project is going to succeed,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“The commitment is there but the process holds it up. What HUGinsure does is manage those risks and provide an insurance policy to cover them, giving donors confidence to release funds earlier.

“We are thrilled and excited and very proud of this project. We are looking to use our core business skills to make a meaningful contribution to communities we live and work in.”

Donors will pay an insurance premium and the risks will be underwritten by the Lloyd’s market.

HUGinsure was launched at last week’s annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.