WFP Text Message Food Voucher Program Launches In Syria
by TAMMY ROSECRANS, Causecast Editor
Here’s to an all new level of text message mastery. Our thumbs may be growing tired of texting, but as the need for international communications grows, the applications for text messaging grow as well. The World Food Programme is set to launch a new program utilizing the mass application of text messaging and mobile phone use. Interestingly enough, more people have access to mobile phones than food these days so this new tool should go a long way.
The pilot program will aid families with $22 per family member over two months, allow for more variety in the diets of recipients, while also promoting local economies.
From the United Nations World Food Programme:
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an electronic food voucher pilot project — the first of its kind in the world to use mobile phone technology — 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.
For more information on mobile phones for change check out these case studies provided by the United Nations.
Photo by Elvire.R., flickr.
- Posted by Causecast
Related causes: Health, Human Rights
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