M-Pesa aids Kenya in drought

International humanitarian organisation, Concern Worldwide, has rolled out an initiative in Kenya to enable people to make cash transfers in exchange for food using their mobile phone, reports Just Means.

The crisis in the Horn of Africa has left more than 12 million people in need of food aid. Somalia has been hit the hardest, while Kenya has been badly affected too; 3.5 million Kenyans are expected to need food aid next month.

USA Today says Safaricom's mobile payment service, M-Pesa, is working with Concern Worldwide in a Kenya drought fundraising effort.

More than 86% of individual donations came through M-Pesa, totalling $1.7 million. Corporate donations and donations in kind bring the total amount of money collected to more than $7 million.

The money sent goes to an account run by M-Pesa. It's then given to the Red Cross who buy food and send it up to northern Kenya.

The Washington Post explains that Kenya is suffering from the worst drought in 60 years. People's suffering is said to be compounded by poor governance, after Kenyan officials failed to invest in measures like irrigation or boreholes that could have helped save livestock and crops.

Since Safaricom introduced M-Pesa in 2007 - the first mobile money transfer system of its kind - Kenyans have moved the equivalent of nearly $8.5 billion through the system.