VOA标准英语2010年-WFP, Vodafone Project Distributes Food

The U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) and the mobile telecommunications company Vodafone are piloting a project that will allow shopkeepers in Burkina Faso to manage food vouchers² by text message.

The World Food Program and The Vodafone Foundation, a division of the British mobile phone company, have started to bring technology to the food voucher¹ program in place in Burkina Faso.

The partnership³ will allow shopkeepers in two towns in Burkina Faso to manage food vouchers through text messaging, or SMS. Paul McCann is Vodafone's Program Delivery Manager in West Africa.

"We're keen here to try this SMS solution out. It's fairly simple, it uses standard technology and it doesn't rely on supplying that technology to the beneficiary, only to the shopkeeper," McCann explained.  "It's currently at the planning stage, the program itself is currently being planned and that's scheduled to start in February."

Around 30,000 people currently receive food vouchers in Burkina Faso. Until now the hologram-imprinted vouchers were distributed to families who need them. They are then exchanged for goods in shops and shopkeepers are reimbursed⁵ in cash by the World Food Program once a month.

If the pilot is successful, shopkeepers will be able to validate⁶ the vouchers by cell phone on the spot. In theory the World Food Program would then be able to reimburse⁴ them the next day, either by bank transfer or by check.

McCann said the new system would eradicate⁷ the possibility of voucher fraud.

"Text messages will be exactly one way of doing it so what would effectively happen is that the vouchers would be presented by the beneficiary," he added.  "When they get to the store they hand over the voucher and the beneficiary card, which identifies who they are. The storekeeper would key those details into effectively a message, which would be formatted⁸ by an application setting on the phone, which would then create an SMS, send that back to the database at WFP headquarters. And the idea is that if you can do that you can pretty well eliminate the potential for fraud.

While McCann is hopeful for the new scheme, he said it is unlikely that food vouchers will be distributed to families by text message.

"The disadvantage...that's a great system and I think it works really well and we've seen an explosion of use of that in East Africa where it's been tried out, not specifically about WFP and vouchers, but the cash transfer system has worked really well. We don't want to start excluding potential beneficiaries because they don't have access to a phone," he said.  "The only phone that's needed in the system that we're talking about is one with the storekeeper."

This is the first time that the Vodafone-World Food Program partnership has benefited West Africa.

McCann, who will leave West Africa in June, said his time in the region has furthered his understanding of how mobile phone technology can benefit the humanitarian⁹ relief effort.

"This was advertised internally in Vodafone and as soon as I saw it I thought, this is something I'd really like to do, a new country, a new working environment," he recalled.  "And the other reason is that an organization like WFP is simply a fantastic organization. So I'm going to take away a better understanding of how organizations like this work."

The food voucher program is not the only project to come of the partnership in West Africa.

"I'm working on a number of others, one here for instance to provide a platform for the humanitarian community to be able to share information," added McCann.  "So what we're trying to do is provide an open platform, particularly during emergency preparedness."

Vodafone is the widest-reaching cell phone provider in the world but it has a limited presence in West Africa. Its partnership with the World Food Program has benefited the disaster and emergency relief response worldwide and Vodafone's technology is currently being used to facilitate the World Food Program's work reaching earthquake survivors¹⁰ in Haiti.

 

1 voucher   

n.收据；传票；凭单，凭证

参考例句：

• The government should run a voucher system.政府应该施行凭证制度。
• Whenever cash is paid out,a voucher or receipt should be obtained.无论何时只要支付现金，就必须要有一张凭据或者收据。

2 vouchers   

n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 )；证人；证件；收据

参考例句：

• These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
• This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

3 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

4 reimburse   

v.补偿，付还

参考例句：

• We'll reimburse you for your travelling expenses.我们将付还你旅费。
• The funds are supposed to reimburse policyholders in the event of insurer failure.这项基金将在保险公司不能偿付的情况下对投保人进行赔付。

5 reimbursed   

v.偿还，付还( reimburse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Any out-of-pocket expenses incurred on the firm's business will be reimbursed. 由公司业务产生的开销都可以报销。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Employees are reimbursed for any legal fees incurred when they relocate. 员工调往异地工作时，他们可以报销由此产生的所有法律服务费用。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 validate   

vt.（法律）使有效，使生效

参考例句：

• You need an official signature to validate the order.你要有正式的签字，这张汇票才能生效。
• In order to validate the agreement,both parties sign it.为使协议有效，双方在上面签了字。

7 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

8 formatted   

adj. 格式化的 动词format的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• Recovers Data even if DRIVE NOT FORMATTED message is displayed. 复苏的数据，即使驱动器未格式化的讯息显示。
• Cold-blood vertebrate has formatted multi-cold adaptation artifice in the various habitation environment. 冷血脊椎动物在多种多样栖息环境中形成多种耐寒策略。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者