HUMANITARIAN TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE
Humanity,
connected.
Responsible AI, secure digital systems and institutional memory for humanitarian action.
MISSION
Technology in service of humanitarian action.
Humanitarian organisations work in environments where information is fragmented, teams change frequently and critical knowledge can disappear. Digital Cross explores how modern technology can help organisations remember better, understand faster and coordinate more effectively — while keeping people in control.
ORIGIN
Born from real humanitarian systems experience.
Digital Cross grew from first-hand experience designing and implementing digital infrastructure inside the humanitarian sector, including early communications systems at the IFRC.
The project starts from a practical question: what could humanitarian organisations achieve today with modern AI, secure cloud systems and connected digital agents that was difficult or impossible to achieve before?
INITIAL FOCUS
Three areas where Digital Cross begins.
Institutional Memory
Preserve organisational knowledge, decisions, reports and operational context so critical information remains discoverable and useful over time.
Humanitarian Coordination
Connect information across teams and operations so people can understand changing situations, share context and coordinate decisions more effectively.
Responsible AI Agents
Develop specialised agents that observe, verify, organise and recommend while keeping human responsibility and approval at the centre of important decisions.
ARCHIVIST
The first Digital Cross agent.
Archivist is designed to preserve, organise, classify, retrieve and connect humanitarian documents, decisions, operational knowledge and institutional memory.
Preserve. Organise. Connect. Retrieve.
Authoritative records remain the source of truth. Archivist acts as a librarian, researcher and guide — not as the owner or silent editor of history.
Human oversight remains central.
PRINCIPLES
Built around human responsibility.
Human responsibility
Important decisions remain accountable to people. Digital Cross agents support judgement rather than replace human responsibility.
Minimum necessary access
Agents receive only the permissions, information and tools required for their specific role, with sensitive actions tightly controlled.
Provenance over invention
Information remains traceable to its source. Uncertainty should remain visible rather than being hidden behind invented confidence.
Security and privacy by design
Security, privacy and access control are designed into the system from the beginning rather than added later.
STATUS
Building the foundation.
Digital Cross is currently in concept and prototype development. The first infrastructure is live, and Archivist is the first agent being developed and tested.
Digital Cross is an independent initiative and is not affiliated with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, or any national Red Cross or Red Crescent society.