Privacy Policy

Spark is a service of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) under the Civil Society and Media Strengthened Together and in New Directions (CSM-STAND) programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). AKF is committed to the lawful, fair, and transparent collection and use of personal data. AKF gathers and processes your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and in compliance with the relevant data protection laws and regulations. This notice provides you with the necessary information regarding your rights and our obligations, and explains how, why, and when we process your personal data. 

The type of personal information we collect
Personal data is any information relating to an identified or an identifiable natural person who can be directly or indirectly identified by reference to an identifier.
We may collect, but not exclusively, the following data:

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Email address
  • Gender
  • Organization
  • Country
  • Native language 

And any other personal data needed for the processing described below. 

Legal grounds to collect your personal information
We collect and use information on one or more of the following legal grounds:

  • Consent – We need your permission to use your information.
  • Legitimate interest – We need to process your information to undertake the tasks and duties of AKF.

How do we collect your data?
We may collect your personal data in a number of ways, for example:

  •  From the information you provide to us when you interact with us.
  • From online forms present on this website.

Why do we collect your personal information?
We will never collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information in any way, other than as specified in this notice.
The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data are detailed below:

  • To respond to your queries
  • To manage your courses and relationship with Spark
  • To update you about the release of new courses or other special resources hosted or advertised through Spark

With whom we share your personal data
We may share the personal data you provide to us within the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) agencies and CSM-STAND to evolve our services.
We may perform some of our operations by relying on third-party suppliers. The personal data that you provide may be shared with these suppliers to enable them to perform the required tasks. However, these suppliers are required to exclusively use the received information for the respective services on behalf of and as instructed by us and they are obliged to comply with the applicable data protection regulations.
Where a data transfer may be necessary, we will take necessary steps to ensure that your personal data has the level of protection required by the applicable laws. We will notify you and seek your consent to process your data in each case, if required.

How long do we keep your information?
We only hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the purposes outlined above. We remove personal data from our systems once it is no longer required, in line with our guidelines on how long important information must remain accessible for future use or reference, as well as when and how data can be destroyed when it is no longer needed.
The length of time each category of data will be retained will vary depending on how long we need to process it for, the reason it was collected, and in line with any statutory requirements. After this time the data will either be deleted, or we may retain a secure anonymized record for research and analysis purposes.

Your data protection rights
You have the following rights regarding your personal data, unless exempt:

  • The right to be informed about any personal information we collect and use about you;
  • The right to access and request a copy of your personal information which we hold about you;
  • The right to withdraw your consent at any time (where applicable);
  • The right to request that we correct any personal information if it is found to be inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date;
  • The right to request your personal information is erased where it is no longer necessary for us to keep such information;
  • The right to request a restriction is placed on further processing, for example where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal information;
  • The right to object to the processing of your personal information;
  • The right to obtain and reuse your personal information to move, copy or transfer it from one IT system to another (only applicable for data held online).

Reviews/changes to this policy
We reserve the right to review this policy periodically and where necessary, due to changes in business operations or data protection regulations. Any updated version of this policy will be uploaded on our website. By doing so, you are consistently aware of what and how data is processed. We recommend that you check our website from time to time to ensure that you remain satisfied with any such changes at the time you send us new or additional information. You will find the date of the latest version at the beginning of the present policy.

Contacts
Feel free to contact us for more information. Should you have any enquiries, concerns, or requests regarding this policy, or regarding how your personal data is processed, please use the contact details below. You can address your questions, comments, or requests regarding privacy to contact@learnwithspark.org