So, in famine situations at least, is there an alternative to handing out bags of rice? Well, the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) seem to think so, and they recently ran a $3 million pilot project with Concern Worldwide to prove it, providing cash payments instead of food to tens of thousands of hungry people in northern Malawi. You can't get more direct than that. Although the project experienced its fair share of problems and challenges -- ranging from the family registration process to overall data management and control -- the problems were far outweighed by the benefits. As with many microfinance-style projects in developing countries, women were the main recipients of the cash, many taking their money and heading straight to local markets to buy food. The logic here is that this keeps the local economy moving, and the agriculture sector buoyant. In this part of northern Malawi at least, that's one problem solved and two avoided, by my count.

Interestingly, direct payments are nothing new in the conservation world, where they've been tried for some years with varying degrees of success. The process is pretty much the same -- give the conservation dollars directly to the people living in the conservation area, and encourage them to help preserve their environment through their spending. I've always quite liked the concept, but appreciate how controversial it is. Funnily enough, today's trendy carbon-credit plans work in a similar way, paying countries not to destroy their forests or other natural resources. The principal difference here is that it enables us to continue polluting with a slightly clearer conscience.

Meanwhile, back in Malawi, you may be wondering what the DFID project had to do with technology. Well, administering a system where piles of cash are handed out to tens of thousands of naturally very willing recipients needs to be effectively managed and controlled. So, each of the villagers in the plan were fingerprinted, and their details held on a smart card that they present at pay-out. Without this smart-card technology, it's unlikely the project would have been possible.

The whole idea of making direct payments is appealing to the donor and the recipient, and opens up a whole new world of opportunity if it's found to be effective. Imagine, it could take hold as an entirely new model for delivering aid, providing it is scalable. With over 3.5 billion mobile phones out there, that particular problem may be well on the way to being solved for us.

Ken Banks devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world, and has spent the last 15 years working on projects in Africa. Further details of Ken's wider work are available on his website at www.kiwanja.net