Since May 2016, the food ration invariably made of maize, beans, palm oil and cooking salt has not been distributed to the 23,000 Central African refugees living in the Gado Badzere camp, located in the Cameroonian town of Garoua-Boulaï, at the border with the Central African Republic.

Instead of specific foodstuffs, the WFP (World Food Program) now enables these refugees to sustain themselves with foods of their choice, the pro-government daily report. To achieve this, we learned, FCfa 8,500 per family member is transferred on a monthly basis to each family, via their mobile phones.

The families can therefore make their purchases, only by using their electronic money, from shops established in the camp. The shop owners, who have themselves received from the WFP seed money worth FCfa 1.5 million each, via mobile money, can thus get supplies from wholesalers approved by the WFP, still using digital money.

To date, we learned, the Gado Badzere camp has 30 electronic money transaction points. Among these locations, there are 21 shops held by refugees themselves, and which led to the creation of 33 direct jobs through the recruitment of shop attendants.