Staff Directory

Anaar Kara

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Anaar leads CGAP’s work on inclusive insurance, leveraging her strong experience leading programs in inclusive insurance.  

Before joining CGAP in 2023, Anaar led Emerging Customer’s Public Private Partnerships and inclusive insurance programs for smallholders across the globe at AXA. Prior to this, she worked in agricultural investment for emerging economies as an investment officer at responsAbility Investments AG, and on various inclusive insurance projects, including climate insurance projects for smallholders during her tenure as Director of Development at PlaNet Guarantee.  She has also worked for the World Food Program and for IFAD on developing climate insurance for smallholder farmers.

A French and Canadian national, Anaar holds a master’s degree in Finance from Grenoble Ecole de Management, a bachelor’s degree in International Management from McGill University in Canada, and she is qualified as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). She is based in Paris.
 

By Anaar Kara

Blog

Commercial Health Insurance Can Complement Public Systems - Here's How

As countries pursue universal health coverage under real constraints, the question is no longer whether commercial health insurance has a role in advancing UHC, but under what conditions it can expand access, affordability, and financial protection for underserved populations.
Blog

How Can Scaling Inclusive Insurance Close Protection Gaps?

Protection gaps are about people, not just numbers. Here, we propose actionable pathways across customer-centric solutions, policy integration, and proportional regulation to make inclusive insurance viable.
Research

Inclusive Insurance: Scaling for Resilience and Impact

Insurance builds resilience by helping people manage shocks and invest confidently in their futures. Yet, inclusive insurance remains small-scale due to barriers in demand, supply, and policy. This deck explores challenges and opportunities—showing how funders can unlock insurance’s full potential as a catalyst for stability, security, and economic growth.
Research

Resilience for All: Why Inclusive Finance Can't Wait

The world faces urgent challenges as risks intensify and interconnect, amplifying vulnerabilities, especially for low-income populations and small and medium enterprises (MSEs). If left unaddressed, these vulnerabilities can create ripple effects with national, regional, and global consequences. This paper highlights the importance of inclusive finance as an indispensable component of resilience responses, and calls on everyone working on increasing resilience to leverage inclusive finance to enhance the reach, speed, and impact of their work.
Blog

Bringing Resilience to the Table to Achieve Development Goals

CGAP's Impact Pathfinder provides insights into the role of financial services in building the resilience of vulnerable populations and small businesses globally.