In Middle East, poor miss out as 'faulty' algorithms target aid (Reuters) 

"Poverty assessment methods powered by algorithms are supposed to make payments fairer, but activists and researchers say such tools often wrongly exclude people," writes Reuters in a story on new tools to benefit social protection. 

Sikandra Kurdi, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which was hired by the World Bank to conduct technical assessments of its anti-poverty programs, said algorithmic tools are a reasonable option for countries that cannot afford universal social protection. 

"Once you agree that you cannot catch everybody and you have to make some decisions about targeting, then PMT is a fair way to do it," she said, adding that policymakers should be aware that it is not a "technocratic magic bullet." 

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Republished by multiple media outlets including Devdiscourse, Malaysia Now, and L'Orient (Lebanon).