Using mobile technology to streamline food aid in Liberia

Success of food aid programs ultimately depends on the programs' ability to reach targets in a timely manner. The USAID-Food For Peace-funded LAUNCH project, initiated in June 2010, aims to reduce food insecurity and chronic malnutrition by distributing food to pregnant and lactating women and children under two in the rural Bong and Nimba counties of Liberia. LAUNCH has implemented a rigorous food distribution system to deliver rations within six weeks of registration, including a registration component to ensure beneficiaries meet project criteria.

The initial paper-based registration process faced a series of challenges including lost forms, slow data entry, and poor supervision. In April 2012, LAUNCH implemented a mobile-based system for field staff to collect beneficiary registration information on mobile phones and transmit the data to a cloud-based system through the local mobile network.

An analysis of 5,250 beneficiaries registered through paper and receiving their first rations from November 2011 to April 2012, found that only 21 percent received the rations within the desired time-frame and average wait-time was 14 weeks. Of the 3,750 beneficiaries registered by mobile phone in the first five months of implementation, 81 percent received their ration within six weeks of registration, with an average wait-time of 4.7 weeks.

The mobile-based registration dramatically decreased beneficiary wait-time and has improved overall efficiency of food distribution, increasing opportunities for targeted beneficiaries to receive food and enabling LAUNCH to better prevent malnutrition. Similar food distribution programs can adapt this model to efficiently deliver essential food rations.