The Humanitarian Agent: Your Virtual Partner on the Front Lines

In the humanitarian sector, new field managers are often thrust into roles demanding an unrealistic breadth of knowledge. They are expected to instantly master complex donor regulations, reporting procedures, humanitarian principles, and internal policies, leaving them in delicate positions without immediate support. This challenge highlights a critical gap for the dedicated individuals on the front lines.

To address this, I developed the Humanitarian Agent, a dynamic AI tool designed to act as a virtual colleague. It is more than just a chatbot; it is a real-time support system built to provide the contextually relevant assistance that humanitarian workers need to succeed.

Designing for Immediate Access and Specialized Support

We believe that in a crisis, barriers to information should not exist. That is why the Humanitarian Agent follows a strict "Open Access" philosophy. Any visitor can land on the page and immediately start asking questions—no login required. However, for those who need to manage long-term projects or revisit complex reasoning chains, the tool integrates seamlessly with baena.ai. By signing in, users can save their conversation history, effectively building a digital memory bank of their work.

Unlike generic AI tools, this agent allows users to select a specific "Assistant" tailored to their immediate needs. A user might switch to the Real-Time Data Analyst to query the ACAPS API for the latest IDP numbers in Dnipro, or toggle to the Strategy Partner to simulate a peer review of a funding proposal. This flexibility ensures the tool acts less like a search engine and more like a versatile team member.

Ethical Engineering and Public-Only Data

In our sector, data privacy and the "Do No Harm" principle are non-negotiable. We made a conscious architectural decision to build our knowledge base exclusively from publicly available, verified humanitarian data. We do not scrape private internal datasets or sensitive operational files.

This data is curated and stored in a self-hosted PostgreSQL database, giving us complete control over how information is indexed and retrieved. By managing our own retrieval infrastructure rather than relying on opaque third-party vectors, we ensure that every answer the agent provides is grounded in transparent, public sector knowledge.

Orchestrated Intelligence Under the Hood

While the interface is simple, the technology powering it is a complex orchestration of modern tools. We don't rely on a single AI model to do everything. Instead, we use n8n to manage a backend workflow that selects the right tool for the specific job.

For example, reasoning tasks might be routed to OpenAI, while requests requiring massive context windows are handled by Google’s Gemini Flash 1.5. To bridge language barriers in the field, we integrate the DeepL API for high-fidelity translation. This hybrid approach—combined with local, self-hosted models for processing audio and video—allows us to offer a powerful, secure, and cost-effective tool that remains accessible to everyone, from international coordinators to local NGO partners.