•  bujumbura
• Saturday, October 30, 2010
• Inter Press Service

Aid organisations say a small handheld computer will allow them to more rapidly assess where food aid is needed most urgently. As a result, fewer Burundians will suffer hunger this year. Fifteen years of civil war, combined with extreme poverty, a fragile political process and recurrent natural disasters like floods and droughts, have caused a drastic increase in poverty and hunger in the central African nation.

Only 28 percent of Burundians have enough food to eat, and more than half of the population is chronically malnourished, according to the United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP). WFP plans to distribute 3.7 million tonnes of food to 90 million people in 73 countries in 2010, including Burundi. To determine how best to allocate the available resources, the international organisation conducts food surveys in each country.

'Usually, you'll send out a monitor with lots of forms,' explains Marc Neilson, WFP public information officer in Burundi. 'You simply jot down what residents say on paper, or you may have a questionnaire in paper form, and you check boxes as needed.' But under a new WFP Burundi initiative, the answers to food assessments are now recorded directly on handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs), which are only a little larger than a cell phone. Since being introduced in March, they have held up against the strong Burundian heat and last for days before needing to be recharged.

WFP Burundi programme assistant Gerard Bisman now uses the new electronic device when he visits rural areas to conduct food assessment interviews. He asks residents questions like 'How many meals a day are you eating?' How do you cook?' 'What do you use to cook?' 'What kind of fuel do you have to cook?' to determine need for aid.

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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