General Information

This platform was established to enable stakeholder action for the sustainable development and operation of communities.

Your use of the platform is predicated on Your understanding of the Privacy Policy in conjunction with the General Terms and Conditions, which You are agreeing to when using the Site.  Kindly refer to the General Terms and Conditions for definition and clarification.

The Official Language of the Terms and Conditions is English.  Use the auto translator below for the translation of content into one of the available languages.

Our Privacy Policy complies with data protection legislation, in particular with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and includes Our Cookie Policy (see below).  We shall comply with all applicable legal provisions regarding data protection.

We advise Site Users that data provided to Us by Users are stored and processed mechanically in machine-readable form for purposes arising from the relationship.  We obligate Our employees or any other party contracted by Us to observe the provisions of Our Privacy Policy.

Any information obtained from a User when communicating with Us or otherwise is stored by the Us.  This information is collected solely to communicate with the User, process registrations, create and maintain user records, keep Users informed of upcoming events and products, and assist Us in improving services to Users.

Under no circumstances shall this confidential information be passed by Us to a third party, except with the explicit approval of the User or as may be required by law, court order, or governmental regulation or if such disclosure is otherwise necessary for the support of any criminal or other legal investigation or proceedings.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the data protection regulation in effect as of 25 May 2018 in all EU member states to harmonize data privacy laws across the European Union.

The GDPR imposes more stringent rules on the collection of personal information belonging to EU data subjects than the data protection regulations of other countries.  No generally applicable law exists that governs privacy policies within the United States.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, the European Commission has recognized numerous countries around the world, including the US (limited to the Privacy Shield framework), as providing adequate privacy protection.

We record data of Users in Our operating system and in Our accounting system, such as name, address, contacts, phone numbers and email addresses.  These data are submitted by the Users and are used solely in Our communication with the Users.  We collect and store the data as long as it is necessary to provide service to our Users.

User Data are made available to the User by request by that User and upon proof of User identity.  Users can protest against the information according to the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).

User data may be made available to authorities only in accordance with the due process of law.

Comments, Media, and Embedded Content from Other Websites

When visitors leave comments on Our Sites, We collect the data shown in the comments form, the visitor’s IP address, and the browser user agent string to help spam detection.  Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

When leaving a comment, an anonymized string created from Your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if it is You who is using it. Gravatar tells the web who You are and where people can find You.  The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/.

Gravatar can display links, photos, contact info, and other details.  After approval of Your comment, Your profile picture if provided is visible to the public in the context of Your comment.

If You upload images or other media to our Websites, You should avoid uploading files with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included.  Visitors to the Websites can download and extract any location data from the images.

Articles on Our Websites may include embedded content – videos, images, articles, etc.  Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if the visitor visits the other website.  These websites may collect data about You, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor Your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking Your interaction with the embedded content if You have an account and are logged on to that website.

Cookie Policy

When You visit the Our Websites, information about You, Your computer and Your interaction when using the site is automatically collected.  We use cookies to determine who visits the Website and to generate demographic and user-related statistics.  In this way, We can customize and create content and services to match Your interests and wishes.

By visiting and using the Website, you give your consent to our Cookie Policy and Our gathering of information about Your visit.  You are, however, able to disable this function (see how below).

If You visit Our login page, We will set a temporary cookie to determine if Your browser accepts cookies.  This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when You close Your browser.

When You log on to Our Websites, We will also set up several cookies to save Your login information and screen display choices.  Login cookies last for two days and screen options cookies last for a year.  If You select "Remember Me", Your login will continue for two weeks.  When You log out of Your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If You leave a comment on Our Site, You may opt-in to save your name, email address, and website in cookies.  This is for Your convenience so that You do not have to fill in Your details again when You leave another comment.  These cookies for comments will last for one year.

If You edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in Your browser.  This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article You edited.

The cookies from Our Website will be stored for a maximum of 24 months from the last time You visited the Website.  Each time You revisit our Site, the period is renewed.

A cookie is a small text file stored in Your browser and recognized by the Site on subsequent visits, enabling it to send personalized information to Your browser.  A cookie can contain text and numbers, but no personal information.  It is not a program and it cannot contain viruses or malware.

You can find comprehensive information in Wikipedia on cookies here (select Your language).

If You do not wish to receive cookies, You can block or delete cookies from Your computer or receive a warning before a cookie is stored.  For further information about how to avoid cookies, go to this article: “Enable or disable cookies” (select Your language).  You can also access the help function of Your browser to get more information on cookie settings.

For further information about this Website and Our use of cookies, please feel free to contact Us.

Your Data

For Users who register on Our Websites, We store the personal information they provide in their User profile.  All Users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time, except they cannot change their username.  Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

If You leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely.  This is so We can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically.

If You have an account on our Sites or have left comments, You can request to receive an exported file of any personal data We hold about You, including any data You have provided to Us.  You can also request that We erase any personal data We hold about You, which does not include data We are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

If You request a password reset, Your IP address will be included in the reset email.