AIDONIC – Redesigning Humanitarian Aid Systems to Empower Local Actors

AIDONIC is an award-winning, humanitarian fintech transforming the aid sector through innovative solutions to long-standing humanitarian challenges. Our core solution is an offline-capable, blockchain-enabled, end-to-end aid donation and delivery platform. The platform is used by aid organisations such as UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Plan International, as well as dozens of local organisations, to overcome challenges in crisis response. The solution combines:

• Digital wallets that enable people to select shops in their community from which to purchase food or household items, medicines or healthcare. The solution works even in areas without connectivity. 
• Multi-modal cash distribution, enabling aid organisations to offer greater dignity by enabling the people they serve to choose their preferred method to receive cash aid, including pre-paid cards, bank or mobile money transfers, or cash pick-up at a remittance agent. 
• NFT-based transparent reporting (ImpactNFT solution) for donors to track their donation in real-time as it moves along the value chain to the last-mile, providing trustworthy evidence of social impact.

AIDONIC operates in nearly a dozen crises, including Haiti, Ethiopia, Yemen, DR Congo and Sudan and South Sudan. 

Sudan Case Study

Context: 1.7 million people at risk of famine, 12.4 million displaced, widespread telecommunications disruptions, and national liquidity crisis preventing cash assistance.

Solution Deployed: Offline-capable e-voucher platform with trained local vendor network in Kosti, White Nile State, partnering with Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Results Achieved:

• Reached 2,520 beneficiaries with food assistance with zero connectivity issues during operation despite a telecommunications infrastructure blackout

Key Innovation: The system’s encrypted offline data storage synchronized at NRC offices end-of-day, enabling aid delivery to continue even when telecommunications infrastructure completely failed due to conflict.

Also, similar results in our DR Congo Case Study

AIDONIC is fundamentally redesigning the humanitarian aid system to empower local actors—those closest to a crisis—to lead their own response, dramatically increasing speed and efficiency. Our solution aims to transform aid delivery into a network where humanitarian action works like a skilled professional temporarily joining a rapid response team; we extend our powerful tools directly to vetted local responders who can deliver assistance at scale in their own communities. Imagine a teacher in a flood-affected village using our platform to document the damage, connect with donors, and coordinate a community-led response within hours, all while being compensated for her crucial efforts. 

Achieving this requires continued, rigorous innovation at the intersection of humanitarian action, distributed systems, and behavioral science. Switzerland is the ideal hub for this due to its unique blend of technical excellence, humanitarian tradition, and commitment to neutrality.

We are seeking partnerships with Swiss researchers and science-based startups to solve critical, high-impact challenges:

• Distributed Systems/Blockchain: Developing lightweight consensus mechanisms that function reliably in low-connectivity or intermittent environments.
• Tokenomics/Incentive Design: Creating incentive structures that effectively reward quality humanitarian work without inadvertently creating harmful or perverse behaviors.
• Computer Science/Security: Building privacy-preserving identity systems to protect vulnerable populations while simultaneously preventing fraud and abuse.
• Behavioral Economics: Studying how platform reputation and trust systems can effectively ensure accountability in high-stakes, crisis-affected contexts.
• Data Science/AI: Developing sophisticated AI systems to verify aid delivery (e.g., via image recognition and anomaly detection) while strictly respecting beneficiary dignity and privacy.

If your research is focused on technology that can help communities respond to their own crises more effectively, or if you are interested in applying rigorous scientific methods to humanitarian challenges that affect millions, we want to collaborate with you.

The development of AIDONIC’s platform and its success in challenging environments are supported by key external recognition and investment that demonstrates a strong trajectory of innovation. The foundational approach was validated by our first-prize win at the 2023 Swiss-South Africa Blockchain Innovation Challenge. This achievement not only provided crucial validation for our blockchain use case in ensuring transparent and traceable humanitarian aid flows, but also catalyzed significant feedback and insights that refined our design. Building upon this, the project secured the International Cooperation Award 2024, presented by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), which provided the essential funding needed to further refine and deploy core elements.

In Sudan: Swiss-built technology combined with the resilience of local merchants in White Nile State who adapted to operations without telecommunications infrastructure and a national liquidity crisis that had closed banks and made cash assistance impossible. The e-voucher solution didn’t impose foreign systems but worked within these severe local constraints—enabling aid to flow even when both connectivity and banking systems had failed—while empowering vendors to serve their communities.

“AIDONIC’s e-voucher project in Kosti was transformative. Their merchant app with offline functionality enabled seamless voucher redemption despite connectivity challenges. Plus, their hands-on support not only reduced our administrative burden but also streamlined our vendor payments, delivering exceptional results for the people we serve. We look forward to future collaborations.”
– Mohammed Ezadin, LSF Coordinator, NRC Kosti Field Office

In DR Congo: Similar banking closures and liquidity challenges meant traditional cash assistance programs couldn’t function. The multi-purpose voucher system worked around these barriers while respecting local market dynamics—beneficiaries could choose from food vendors, shops, health clinics, and taxi services. This restored decision-making power to displaced families rather than prescribing solutions from outside, all while circumventing the financial infrastructure failures that would have otherwise prevented any assistance from reaching them.

DR Congo – Project Coordinator Reflection:

“Distributing the vouchers and training the boutique staff went extremely well, and the voucher redemption progressed rapidly after the households arrived.”
– Luc Yegaba Buyana, Project Coordinator, AIDONIC

“It is so much better when we can choose the items we need most to purchase from the shop. Thank you for remembering us.”
– Program Participant, DR Congo

“The technology works perfectly, so this is a great way to help the displaced people. Thank-you for trusting us.”
– Boutique Vendor, DR Congo