WFP launches phone cash program to help Ivory Coast residents

"Working with a local telecommunications company, the World Food Programme (WFP) has developed a program in the Ivory Coast to facilitate cash transfers that can be used by thousands of Ivorians to buy food despite a climate of political violence," according to a Foreign Policy Association blog post. WFP provides a monthly sum of money to Ivoirian households, "[h]owever, people have had trouble accessing the money because of unrest plaguing [the] Ivory Coast since the contested 2010 presidential election," the blog states (Lucivero, 10/10). Residents will receive a text message when funds are available, "alerting them to the transaction and allowing them to withdraw money from local cash points," AlertNet reports (Fominyen, 10/4).