Charity uses mobile phone data to identify aid recipients in Togo

A file photo of a woman receiving a prepaid debt card for cash and food in a makeshift home in Lagos, Africa. GiveDirectly uses satellite data to identify poor areas, and then harness machine learning to comb mobile phone metadata to identify those living in extreme poverty. Potential recipients are contacted by phone and invited to apply for support. — AFP

LONDON: A US-based nonprofit that is using algorithms to identify people living in extreme poverty by analysing their mobile phone habits has made direct cash payments to 30,000 people as part of a pioneering project in Togo.

GiveDirectly worked with the government of the West African nation and experts at the University of California, Berkeley, for the high-tech approach to find some of the country’s poorest people.