The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is using text messages to send electronic food vouchers to Iraqi refugees in Syria. The program is targeted at 1,000 families living in Damascus. The program enables the refugees to avoid traveling long distances to distribution centers and allows for greater nutritional diversity. Below is a quote from the WFP website:

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.  

This is a clever use of technology to solve a serious humanitarian problem. I am not sure what the down side would be to this kind of program, but eliminating excessive travel and allowing for a greater variety of food choices has got to be a good thing. I hope the program is successful and can be expanded to other regions of the world.