Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Sauti Salama ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring the security of your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our platform, which connects Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survivors with verified professionals and support services.

Your privacy and safety are our top priorities. We understand the sensitive nature of the information you may share with us, and we have implemented robust security measures to protect your data and maintain your anonymity when desired.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information

We collect only the information you choose to provide, which may include:

• Contact information (email address, phone number) - only when you choose to provide it
• Username or display name (can be anonymous)
• Location information (only if you choose to share it for service matching)
• Demographic information (age range, preferred language) - optional
• Professional credentials (for verified professionals only)

2.2 Sensitive Information

With your explicit consent, we may collect sensitive information including:

• Incident reports and documentation
• Audio recordings and voice messages
• Images and video content (when you choose to upload them)
• Health and mental health information
• Legal case information

2.3 Technical Information

We automatically collect certain technical information to ensure platform security and functionality:

• Device information (type, operating system, browser)
• IP address and general location data
• Usage patterns and platform interactions
• Security logs and access records

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information solely to provide and improve our services:

• Connect you with appropriate professionals and support services
• Facilitate secure communication between users and professionals
• Provide personalized safety planning and resource recommendations
• Maintain platform security and prevent abuse
• Improve our services through anonymous analytics
• Comply with legal obligations and protect user safety

4. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We are committed to protecting your privacy. We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share information only in the following limited circumstances:

4.1 With Your Consent

We may share information with professionals or organizations only when you explicitly consent to such sharing.

4.2 Safety and Legal Requirements

We may disclose information if required by law or if we believe it is necessary to:

• Protect your safety or the safety of others
• Comply with legal processes or court orders
• Prevent fraud or abuse of our platform
• Respond to emergency situations

4.3 Service Providers

We may share information with trusted service providers who assist us in operating our platform, subject to strict confidentiality agreements.

5. Data Security and Protection

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your information:

• End-to-end encryption for all communications
• Secure data storage with encryption at rest
• Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments
• Access controls and authentication protocols
• Secure data transmission using HTTPS/TLS

Despite our security measures, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security but are committed to protecting your information to the best of our ability.

5A. Google user data

Sauti Salama staff and professionals can connect their own Google account to our platform. This section explains what we access when they do, and why.

What we access

• Gmail (scope https://mail.google.com/): messages and folders in the account the user connects, so they can read, search, reply to, archive and delete mail inside our team mail client. We connect over IMAP and SMTP with OAuth, which needs this scope.
• Google Calendar (scopes calendar.events and calendar.readonly): the user's calendars and events, so we can create, update and cancel appointment and meeting events on their calendar and show when they are free.
• Basic profile (openid, email and profile): to sign in and to show the user's name and email address.

How we use it

Google user data is used only to provide these user-facing features to the person who connected the account. Optional features that the user starts themselves, such as summarising or drafting a reply to a message, act only on the message the user chose. We do not sell Google user data, we do not use it for advertising or to build advertising profiles, and we do not use it to train generalised AI or machine-learning models. We do not allow people to read a user's Google data, except where the user asks us to, where it is needed for security or to follow the law, or where the data is aggregated and anonymised.

Limited Use

Sauti Salama's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Storage, sharing and removal

Connection tokens are stored encrypted and are used only to act for the user who connected the account. Mail is read from Google when it is needed. Recently opened messages are cached only in the user's own browser so they stay readable without a connection, and we do not keep a copy of mail on our servers. A user can disconnect their account in the app at any time, and can also remove our access at myaccount.google.com/permissions. When an account is disconnected we delete the stored tokens. To ask for any other Google-related data to be deleted, write to privacy@sautisalama.org.

6. Your Rights and Choices

You have the following rights regarding your personal information:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information
• Deletion: Request deletion of your personal information
• Portability: Request transfer of your data to another service
• Restriction: Request limitation of how we process your information
• Objection: Object to certain types of processing

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information provided in the "Contact Us" section below.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to provide our services and fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy. Specifically:

• Account information: Until you delete your account or request deletion
• Incident reports: As long as needed for legal or safety purposes
• Communication records: For the duration of your use of our services
• Technical logs: Up to 2 years for security and analytics purposes

8. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. We ensure that such transfers comply with applicable data protection laws and implement appropriate safeguards to protect your information.

9. Children's Privacy

Our services are not intended for children under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 18, we will take steps to delete such information.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last Updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us:

12. Emergency Situations

If you are in immediate danger, please contact emergency services immediately: