In this report, we describe our project products to World Bank’s Commodity Risk Management Group (CMRG) in the development and evaluation of index insurance contracts for smallholder farmers in Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya. The development of some products we are providing was supported at no cost by the NSF-funded Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. Index-insurance is one type of weather risk management that has recently developed as a potential tool to reduce weather risk in agriculture. While traditional insurance insures against crop failure (actual loss), index insurance insures for a specific event or risk, such as rainfall deficits (Skees 1999). Thus, the index insurance removes one or more production risks, but does not account for the loss itself. This method addresses two problems associated with traditional crop insurance: moral hazard (where farmers have incentive to let their crops fail in order to receive a payout) and adverse selection (where those farmers less skilled at farming purchase the insurance, resulting in higher premium levels and more frequent payouts). Since the index insurance only covers a specific risk, it only provides partial protection and is therefore only one part of a complete risk management package. The index insurance also becomes a more affordable option, in that there is no need for in-field assessment of damage, as damage is able to be tracked by weather data directly (in the case of rainfall, a rain gauge would be the device used). The Malawi experience provides an example of the potential for using index insurance in developing countries to assist emerging markets and increase productivity of small holder farmers, with a bundled index insurance, loan, and input package in its second year of implementation. Our project supports this implementation. Partners include the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), in conjunction with the Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM), the Malawi Rural Finance Company Limited (MRFC), the Insurance Association of Malawi, and the Malawi Meteorological Service, with support from the World Bank CRMG and IRI. ICRISAT and the Chitedze Agricultural Research Station provided important and influential input in the design process. 