October 27, 2009
Food vouchers on cellphones
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an electronic food voucher pilot project to aid 1,000 Iraqi refugee families in Syria.
Iraqi refugees living in Damascus will receive a text message on their mobiles providing a code enabling them to cash in all or part of the “virtual voucher” at selected government shops. They will be able to exchange their electronic vouchers for rice, wheat flour, lentils, chickpeas, oil and canned fish, as well as cheese and eggs -- items that cannot usually be included in conventional aid baskets.
Each family will receive one voucher per person, worth US$22 every two months. After each transaction, families will receive an updated balance, also sent by SMS to their mobile numbers.
Addressing concerns about mobile phone ownership among the refugee population, WFP spokesperson Emilia Casella told News24 "that all the 130'000 Iraqi refugees currently receiving food aid from the agency in Syria have mobile phones".
"We're currently providing news about distributions on mobile phone messages to the 130 000 caseload right now," she said.
Full WFP press release via News24. Image from Amnesty International Blogs.
In their press release, the WFP claims this voucher program is a world first. But I know of one online store catering to Kenyans and Ugandans who have re-located abroad, called Mama Mikes, allowing them to purchase mobile vouchers redeemable by their families' back home, to pay for groceries, electricity bills and cell phone minutes.
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