Last Mile Mobile Solutions Program Streamlines Food and Aid Distribution in Real Time
ThoughtWorks, a global technology company, in partnership with the Christian humanitarian agency World Vision Canada, announced that over 137,000 people affected by Typhoon Haiyan have received supplies, including rice and cash distributions via World Vision’s Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS) system. The mobile program empowers mobile users to register recipient information electronically and ultimately produce a bar-coded photo card. When swiped on the same hand-held device, this card produces the information needed to determine and distribute food and non-food items.
Generating reports through LMMS takes just seconds and the time associated with planning and distribution of relief supplies has been significantly reduced. This allows aid agencies to reach more distressed communities in the Philippines with the same human and financial resources. To date, more than 27,500 households in the areas affected by Typhoon Haiyan have been registered through LMMS World Vision staff in the Philippines. In addition, global humanitarian agencies, such as Oxfam, are being trained to implement the use of LMMS in their own relief efforts for Typhoon Haiyan.
