Bemba AI - Intelligent Assistant
Bemba is the conversational assistant of PCH-SIG. You ask a question in plain language, it queries the system on your behalf and answers with the real figures from the registry. It can also show points on the map, open a screen, look up the answer in this documentation or guide you through filing a complaint.
Where to find Bemba
Bemba is available everywhere in the application:
| Access | How |
|---|---|
| Floating button | Bottom right of every page, except the detailed map. One click opens the conversation window. |
| Detailed map | PCH GIS Assistant button in the map tab bar. Points returned by Bemba are displayed directly on the map. |
Both entry points open the same conversation: you can start on one page and continue on the map.
What Bemba can do
| Area | Examples |
|---|---|
| Statistics | Number of households, beneficiaries, payments or complaints, by region, sector, locality, category, status, programme or month. |
| Search | Find a household, a beneficiary or a complaint from a code, a name, a phone number or a reference. |
| Household record | The full record of a household: composition, head of household, housing, location, programmes. |
| Map | Show households, schools, health services or GBV services on the map. |
| Documentation | Answer a "how do I" question from this documentation and the published knowledge base articles, with a link to the source. |
| Geographic reference | List the regions, the sectors of a region, the localities of a sector. |
| Coverage | Registration coverage status, overall or by region. |
| Monitoring and evaluation | AWPB progress, overdue activities, indicators, alerts. |
| Complaints | File a complaint step by step, one question at a time. |
| Navigation | Open a screen of the application, optionally with a prefilled search. |
Detailed example questions are given in the usage guide.
Languages
Bemba answers in French, English, Portuguese or Kriol. The language is chosen in the header of the assistant window. You can ask in any language: Bemba answers in the chosen one.
| Language | Example question |
|---|---|
| French | "Combien de ménages dans la région de Oio ?" |
| English | "How many households in Bafatá?" |
| Portuguese | "Quantos agregados na região de Gabú?" |
| Kriol | "Kantu agregadu na Oio?" |
Voice
- Dictation: click the microphone, speak, then click again to send.
- Read aloud: enable voice in the header so Bemba reads its answers. Each answer also has a
Listenbutton. - Voice works in Chromium browsers (Chrome, Edge). Kriol is read with the Portuguese voice.
Conversation
- Bemba keeps the thread: you can follow up with "And in Bafatá?" after a first question.
- Your conversations are kept. You can reopen one, start a new one or delete one.
- Suggestion buttons offer common questions or a logical next step after an answer.
- Each answer has a thumbs up / thumbs down. Use it: this feedback helps improve the assistant.
What Bemba does not do
- It does not change any data. The only exception is guided complaint filing, which creates a complaint after your confirmation.
- It does not make up figures. Every number comes from a query to the system. If the information is not available, Bemba says so.
- It does not answer procedure questions from memory: it searches the documentation first. If it finds nothing, it says so.
- It does not bypass your rights: it only sees what you are allowed to see.
- It does not execute payments, validate households or delete anything.
- It does not replace the application screens for detailed work: to sort, export or edit, open the relevant screen (Bemba can take you there).
Privacy and scope
- Same scope as you: institution, projects, region and screen permissions apply to every question. A user restricted to one region only gets that region's figures.
- No free-form queries: Bemba does not write database queries. It uses closed tools, prepared by the technical team, which enforce your rights.
- Conversations are stored: your exchanges are kept on the server so you can find them again. You can delete a conversation at any time.
- Usage is tracked: the number of questions and the cost of the service are measured per user, without the content of the questions in the technical logs.
- Usage limit: 40 questions per 10-minute period per user.
Bemba on the public website
The public website has its own Bemba assistant, separate from the MIS one. It serves visitors who are not signed in and only does three things:
- present the project: mission, vision, components and published pages;
- answer from the public documentation;
- help file a complaint, sent to the same KoboToolbox form as the website complaint form.
It reads no household, beneficiary, payment or complaint data, and refuses any question about a personal case. It works in text only, in French, Portuguese, English and Kriol. Its use is limited per address and per day for the whole site.
See also
- Usage guide: example questions by area, troubleshooting.
- Guided complaint filing: the steps, the full example, cancelling.