The second webinar of the Global Risk Financing Facility (GRiF) Technical Talks took place virtually on June 23, 2021. The webinar featured an in-depth discussion on Sierra Leone country project. Iffat Sharif (Practice Manager, Social Protection and Jobs  [SP&J], WBG) presented the opening remarks and discussed the importance and relevance of GRiF grant to the Sierra Leone Social Safety Net Project. Thomas Vaughan Bowen (Social Protection Specialist, SP&J, WBG) delivered a lightening presentation to explain the objective and activities financed by the GRiF grant in Sierra Leone, which adapted to respond to COVID-19 using emergency cash-transfers. Following the lightening presentation, Sumati Rajput (Financial Sector Specialist, Crisis and Disaster Risk Finance [CDRF], WBG) interviewed Junko Onishi (Senior Social Protection Specialist, SP&J, WBG), Abu Kargbo (Senior Social Protection Specialist, SP&J, WBG) and Thomas Vaughan Bowen (Social Protection Specialist, SP&J, WBG) on how the GRiF grant linked to the USD 4 million in International Development Association (IDA) funds enabled a quick and effective emergency cash-transfer response for COVID-19. The technical conversation focused on details of operationalizing the response on the ground, challenges that emerged, and learnings for future safety net shock-response. 

The webinar was facilitated by Kaavya Krishna (Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CDRF, WBG), featuring live poll questions to understand the participants better and interact with the audience. The webinar concluded with a Q&A session. The virtual session had over 153 registrations from 43 countries, and included donors, client representatives, international organizations, private sector companies, non-governmental organizations, and academia. 

The GRiF Technical Talks feature a series of short virtual sessions, providing an overview of GRiF as well as lessons learned from innovative projects around the world. The monthly webinars are accompanied by a fact sheet and a learning brief. 

To access the resources for all the Webinars so far, click here.