UN launches mobile phone food aid programme for Iraqis in Syria

Middle East News

Oct 27, 2009, 10:06 GMT

Geneva - The United Nations has launched a pilot programme to distribute food vouchers to Iraqi refugees in Syria using mobile phone technology, a spokesperson said Tuesday. The 1,000 Iraqi families will receive a text message on their mobile phones, giving them a code which they can virtually cash in at 'selected government shops' for items like rice, wheat, fish and eggs, said World Food Programme official Emilia Casilla in Geneva. The WFP said the test programme to start this week would run for a four month trial. Each family will receive one voucher per family member, worth 22 dollars every two months. The WFP says the idea is to do away with queues at distribution points and allow people to pick up needed goods closer to home rather than having to travel long distances. The SIM cards used for the system were donated by a local service provider and cannot be used for making regular phone calls, said Casilla. There are some 1.2 million Iraqi refugees in Syria, including some 130,000 who receive UN food aid.

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