Privacy Policy

1 The short version

The rest of this page explains all of that properly. We follow Zimbabwe's Cyber and Data Protection Act, which sets the rules for how organisations here must look after your personal information.

2 Who looks after your information

Positive Konnections is run by Renewal International Trust, a trust registered in Zimbabwe. We are responsible for the personal information in the app.

We have a Data Protection Officer whose job is to make sure we handle your information properly. If you have a question or a worry about your privacy, write to info@renewal.org.zw and mark it for the Data Protection Officer.

3 What we collect

Things you give us

• Your name and email address, and the role your account has.
• Your answers in workbooks, and your survey responses.
• Your messages with counsellors and in group conversations.
• Any feedback you send us.
• Any photos, voice notes, videos or files you upload.

Things the app records as you use it

• Which programmes and chapters you've been given, and how far you've got.
• When you sign in, and which features you use.
• Basic technical details — your device type, app version and IP address — which help us keep the app secure and fix problems.
• A code that lets us send notifications to your phone.

Your password isn't something we can see. It's scrambled before it's stored, so no one at Positive Konnections can read it.

4 Why we collect it

We won't start using your information for something new and unrelated without telling you and, where it matters, asking you first.

5 Health and other private matters

A lot of what you share here is sensitive — how you're feeling, what you're going through, your health. Zimbabwean law gives that kind of information extra protection, and so do we.

We only use it:

• with your clear agreement, for the purpose you agreed to;
• to provide your care, through counsellors who are bound to keep it confidential; or
• to protect someone's life or safety in an emergency.

Fewer people can reach this kind of information than ordinary account details, and we keep a record of who opens it.

6 Who can see your information

• Your counsellor and the staff supporting you. Only the people who need it for your care. Everyone who works with us is bound to keep what they see confidential.
• The companies that run our technology. The app is built on Google Firebase, which stores the data and delivers notifications for us. They work to our instructions under a contract and can't use your information for their own purposes.
• Our funders and partners — but only as totals and patterns, with nothing that identifies you.

We never sell your information to anyone, and we don't use it for advertising.

7 When we might share without asking you first

Confidentiality matters to us, but there are three situations where we may have to pass something on:

• Someone's life or safety is at serious and immediate risk — yours or another person's.
• A child or vulnerable person is being harmed, and we're obliged to report it.
• The law requires it — for example a court order or a lawful request from the authorities.

Even then, we share the least we can. Where it's safe and lawful to do so, we'll tell you what we shared and why, and we keep a record of it.

8 Where your information is kept

Our technology provider, Google Firebase, stores your information on servers in the United States. That means it leaves Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean law allows this as long as your information is properly protected wherever it goes. Google is contractually bound to protect it to the same standard we would, to act only on our instructions, and to keep it confidential. We check this before we send anything, and you can ask us for more detail at any time.

9 How we keep it safe

• Everything sent between your phone and our servers is encrypted, and it stays encrypted where it's stored.
• Every account needs a password, and what you can see depends on your role — clients, counsellors and administrators each reach different things.
• Those limits are enforced on our servers, not just in the app, so they can't be got around.
• We keep records of who opens sensitive information, and review who has access.
• Everyone who works with us is trained on privacy and signs a confidentiality undertaking.

No system is perfect, so please help us: keep your password private, put a lock screen on your phone, and tell us if something looks wrong.

10 If something goes wrong

If your information is ever lost or seen by someone who shouldn't have seen it, we'll act immediately to contain it. We're required to report serious incidents to POTRAZ within 24 hours, and we will. If it could affect you, we'll tell you as well — what happened, what it involved, and what you can do.

11 How long we keep things

We keep your information only as long as we need it, or as long as the law says we must.

After that we delete it securely, or remove everything that could link it back to you.

12 Your rights

Zimbabwean law gives you real control over your information. You can:

• Ask what we hold and get a copy of it.
• Correct it if something is wrong or out of date.
• Ask us to delete it.
• Object to us using it in a particular way.
• Change your mind about anything you previously agreed to.
• Complain — to us, and to POTRAZ.

Just email info@renewal.org.zw. It's free, and we'll come back to you within 30 days. We may check who you are first, so that we don't hand your information to someone else.

Deleting your account

You can ask us to close your account and delete your information at any time by emailing info@renewal.org.zw from the address on your account, or by asking your counsellor. We'll confirm once it's done.

13 Under 18s

If you're under 18, we need a parent or guardian to agree before you join, and we'll ask you whether you're happy too. If you think we have a young person's information without that agreement, please tell us and we'll put it right.

14 Notifications

If you allow it, we'll send reminders and let you know when you have a new message. We keep the wording deliberately vague so that nothing private shows up on your lock screen where someone else might see it. You can switch notifications off in your phone settings at any time.

15 Cookies

Our web version stores a small amount of data in your browser to keep you signed in. That's all it's for — we don't use cookies to track you across other websites or to advertise.

16 Complaining to the regulator

Please come to us first — we'd rather fix it. But if you're not satisfied, you have the right to complain to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), which oversees data protection in Zimbabwe. You'll find how to contact them at www.potraz.gov.zw. You can also take the matter to court.

17 Changes to this policy

We review this page regularly. If we change something that affects you, we'll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect. The date at the top of the page always shows the current version.

18 Talk to us

Any question about your privacy, big or small: