Supervised AI hotlines for NGO

Keep
hotlines running when
teams are under pressure.

Frontline Agents helps NGOs deploy AI hotlines and referral services that remain supervised by their teams. On WhatsApp and the messaging channels people already use, the agent provides reliable information, triages requests, and routes each person to the right contact, following your organisation’s protocols.

Our first service is a reproductive and women’s health hotline, available on WhatsApp, with human supervision and configurable operating instructions.

◇ More needs
135 M
People targeted for humanitarian assistance in 2026
The UN and its partners aim to assist 135 million people across 50 countries, with immediate priority given to 87 million.
Source — OCHA · Global Humanitarian Overview 2026
◇ Less funding
6,600+
Health facilities disrupted
WHO estimates that funding constraints have cut access to care for more than 53 million people.
Source — WHO · Health Emergency Appeal 2026
§ 01
The context

More need. Less funding. Essential services that are harder to maintain.

Humanitarian needs are rising while budgets tighten. In many programmes, the question is no longer only how to improve a service. It is how to prevent it from disappearing, shrinking, or becoming inaccessible to the people who rely on it.

That pressure reaches the day-to-day work of field teams. Requests arrive continuously. Available services change. Guidance has to stay up to date. Too often, a person first reaches the wrong contact, or someone whose day is spent triaging calls. Sensitive data ends up in spreadsheets and email threads, while processes become rigid and slow to adapt.

— Volume
Continuous incoming requests
People ask urgent or sensitive questions through the channels they already use, often outside office hours.
— Capacity
Stretched field teams
Field teams must respond, prioritise, document and refer with less time available for each person supported.
— Referral
Wrong first handover
A poorly qualified request takes time from the wrong person, delays the useful conversation and can discourage the service user.
— Confidentiality
Sensitive data scattered
Critical information circulates through Excel files, inboxes and Teams groups, often in cloud environments with uncertain privacy protections.
◇ Figures
Underfunding has already cut the reach of aid
In 2025, the global humanitarian appeal received only 12 billion dollars, its lowest level in a decade. Humanitarian organisations reached 25 million fewer people than the previous year.
Source — OCHA / UN Geneva — Global Humanitarian Overview 2026
§ 02
The response

A supervised AI hotline, operated by the NGO.

Frontline Agents deploys an AI hotline for frequent or repetitive requests. The agent follows validated instructions, gathers information one question at a time, qualifies the request before handover, proposes next steps from the organisation’s protocols, and alerts the team when human support is needed.

The team remains in control of the service: its rules, limits, protocols, translations and decisions to escalate to a staff member. When someone needs to speak with staff, they are routed to the right person with a summary of their situation.

FN.01
Inform
Answer frequent questions with content validated by the organisation.
FN.02
Triage
Understand the request, context and level of urgency without turning the conversation into a form.
FN.03
Refer
Guide toward the next steps or the right contact, based on available resources and protocols.
FN.04
Escalate
Alert a staff member with a summary when a situation needs human attention.
FN.05
Document
Keep operational history in one place and generate activity reports.
◇ Figures and synthesis
Reliable information is a humanitarian service
Signpost, led by the IRC, has deployed information programmes in more than 30 countries and 25 languages, reaching around 20 million users through its information products.
Source — Signpost AI / IRC
§ 03
First available service

Reproductive and women’s health hotline.

Frontline Agents’ first service is designed for organisations supporting women with reproductive health, contraception, unwanted pregnancy, referrals and access to care.

FA-AGENT-01 · Live

The hotline provides a confidential, multilingual and supervised first line of information. It follows protocols agreed with the partner organisation, calculates structured information when needed, such as gestational age, and requests human intervention when a situation falls outside the defined scope.

Capabilities
  • + Conversations through WhatsApp
  • + Automatic gestational age calculation
  • + Staff escalation with mobile alerts
  • + Manual takeover by a team member
  • + Automatic translation between service user and staff
◇ Figures
Reproductive health is a vital service in crisis
UNFPA is appealing for nearly one billion dollars in 2026 to maintain reproductive health and protection services for 34.3 million women, girls and young people across 42 countries.
Source — UNFPA · 2026 Humanitarian Action Overview
◇ Example
Remote support is already used in the field
In Afghanistan, a UNFPA-supported helpline runs 24/7 to assist midwives in remote areas. It has supported 44,000 births since 2024.
Source — UN Afghanistan · UNFPA
§ 04
Human supervision

The bot can be paused. The team can take over.

Every conversation between the agent and a service user can be monitored from the back office. Team members can choose the language they read in, regardless of the language used in the conversation.

When a case needs human attention, the AI agent raises an alert with a summary of the request, the context and the reason for escalation. The team member can read that summary before replying, check what is needed in complex situations, and then take over: the agent pauses, staff messages are sent to the service user in their language without exposing the staff member’s personal phone number or messaging account, and the full history stays in one place. When the situation allows, the team can hand the conversation back to the agent so it continues automatically.

§ 05
Operational governance

Humanitarian teams stay in control of the protocols.

The agent follows the instructions, limits and referral protocols set by the organisation. Teams can update guidance, revise procedures, disable sections and decide what the agent is allowed to use during a conversation, so sensitive support stays aligned with their standards and safeguards.

Not a black box

Frontline Agents is not a black box added to a programme. It is a service configured with the organisation, reviewed with field teams, and adjusted throughout the pilot. If the situation changes quickly, the team can ask the AI to update its protocol, for example to reflect a new service.

§ 06
Sensitive data

Fewer files in circulation. Stronger confidentiality.

Sensitive data often ends up spread across spreadsheets, attachments, exports, inboxes, chat threads and personal devices. Each copy becomes harder to track, secure or delete, and each informal channel increases exposure for both service users and frontline staff.

Frontline Agents keeps conversations, referrals, handovers, instructions, logs and activity reports in one controlled space, with supervised access and centralised history. Hosting is in Switzerland, with Swiss and European services by default; other providers can be used only when the partner chooses explicitly and within agreed limits.

● CONFIDENTIALITY
Beneficiary confidentiality
Sensitive conversations stay in a controlled service channel, instead of being copied across files, inboxes and private devices.
● STAFF
Staff exposure reduced
Frontline workers can respond without exposing personal phone numbers, private accounts or individual messaging identities.
● TRACEABILITY
Data flows documented
Conversations, handovers, logs and reports remain traceable in one operational history.
◇ Synthesis
Basic anonymisation is not enough
OCHA notes that some datasets can still expose people after anonymisation, when variables such as age, gender, marital status or location are cross-referenced.
Source — OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data
◇ Figures
Spreadsheets remain central to data work
A TechSoup study of 11,758 civil society organisations across 135 countries shows that spreadsheets are still heavily used to collect, store and share data.
Source — TechSoup / Logica Research
⚠ Caveat — Security is not reduced to a hosting location. The important decisions also concern access rights, exports, roles, logs, models used and retention rules.
§ 07
Precedents and guardrails

An approach grounded in existing humanitarian practice.

Frontline Agents is not asking organisations to trust an isolated promise. The humanitarian sector already uses hotlines, conversational channels, reliable information services and feedback mechanisms. The critical point is governance: human supervision, explicit protocols, data responsibility and clear limits.

◆ Example Remote support
Midwifery Helpline — Afghanistan
Supported by UNFPA, the helpline has helped midwives support 44,000 births since 2024.
Source — UN Afghanistan · UNFPA
◆ Example WhatsApp channel
La Chama — Brazil
UNHCR used a WhatsApp chatbot to provide reliable information to over 10,000 Venezuelan refugees and migrants.
Source — UNHCR
◆ Figures Reliable information
Signpost — 30 countries, 25 languages
Information programmes have been deployed in more than 30 countries and 25 languages, reaching around 20 million users.
Source — Signpost / IRC
— § SCOPING REQUEST —

Let’s discuss your use case.

A first conversation helps us understand your service, your audiences, your protocols, your current channels and the situations that must remain supervised. We can then prepare a scoping note covering the pilot perimeter, channels, data, supervision, escalation criteria, risks and deployment conditions.

Schedule a call →
● Note — Hosted in Switzerland. Swiss and European services by default. Use of US-based LLMs remains optional and subject to the partner’s explicit choice.