Privacy Policy

Refugee House ("we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy ("Policy") explains how we collect, use, store, protect, and manage any personal data you provide or generate when using our website (the "Website").

Throughout this Policy, users, visitors, contributors, job seekers, volunteers, partners, and authors are collectively referred to as "You."

By accessing or using our Website, you explicitly consent to the data collection and management frameworks outlined in this Privacy Policy alongside our Terms and Conditions of Use.

Understanding Personal Data

"Personal data" refers to any information that can directly or indirectly identify you as an individual. This includes records like your name, email address, physical location, telephone number, curriculum vitae (CV), professional profile, or any other data you voluntarily share or that our servers automatically log during your digital interactions.

We recognize the high sensitivity of data concerning displaced communities, refugees, and host populations. We are strictly committed to ensuring your information is treated with the highest tier of confidentiality, safety, and responsibility.

Scope of This Policy

This Policy applies exclusively to data managed on the native Refugee House Website and integrated platforms under our direct structural ownership and administrative control.

Our Website contains links to external, third-party portals, payment processors, or organizational partners. If you follow an external hyperlink, their respective privacy guidelines apply. Refugee House assumes zero legal responsibility for the data storage, security measures, or content tracking of external sites.

Information We Collect

We collect and process personal information through three distinct avenues.

1. Information You Voluntarily Provide

Communication & Contact: names, emails, phone numbers, and message notes provided when submitting our Contact Form or emailing our team desks.
Careers & Talent Database: academic records, job history, contact details, and reference letters uploaded when applying for professional roles, fellowships, or volunteer positions.
Spaces & Community: booking data, profile details, and organizational affiliations provided when reserving a workstation at the Mvara Co-Working Space or registering for policy debates.
Donations & Giving: transaction logs, contact details, and residency status filled out when donating to our grassroots initiatives.

2. Information Collected Automatically

Technical Logs: IP addresses, browser types, localized operating system data, and device identifiers.
Analytics & Usage Data: navigation timelines, pages viewed, referral links, and interactions with text layouts.

3. Anonymized Data Extraction

We periodically generate completely anonymized data sets by stripping away personally identifiable parameters from our logs. This anonymous data is utilized for institutional research, multi-sector reporting, impact analysis, and securing programmatic funding.

How We Use Your Information

Your data is used strictly for legitimate operational purposes, including:

Operating, securing, and optimizing our physical hub resource scheduling and digital systems.
Reviewing, evaluating, and processing professional applications, volunteer registries, and partnership proposals.
Responding promptly to legal requests, field inquiries, or public communications.
Distributing newsletters, project updates, and settlement success stories (only with your explicit opt-in consent).
Analyzing platform traffic to map donor demographics and track systemic engagement metrics.
Protecting our network architecture from security breaches, cyberattacks, or fraudulent exploitation.

We will never process your personal information for purposes outside this scope without first obtaining your renewed, explicit consent.

Data Storage, Security, & Retention

Security Protocols

Your personal data is hosted securely and accessed strictly by authorized Refugee House management personnel on a need-to-know basis. We employ robust administrative, technical, and organizational security measures to shield your data from unauthorized access, accidental alteration, loss, theft, or exposure.

Important Security Notice: While we apply industry-standard protections, no method of digital transmission over the internet or cloud storage network can be guaranteed 100% secure. We cannot promise absolute, bulletproof protection during online transmittals. If you hold administrative credentials for our platform, you are completely responsible for maintaining their absolute secrecy.

Retention Strategy

We retain personal data only for the precise duration required to fulfill the specific operational, recruitment, or legal purposes for which it was originally gathered. When these milestones are completed, your information is securely destroyed, permanently purged, or completely anonymized in compliance with our data lifecycle protocols.

Refugee House does not sell, rent, lease, trade, or commercially profit from your personal data under any circumstances.

We will only disclose your data under the following conditions:

Legal Compliance: when compelled by valid administrative processes, national statutes, or court orders issued within the Republic of Uganda.
Protection of Rights: to safeguard the physical safety, human rights, institutional security, or legal property of Refugee House, our staff, and our displaced community members.
Trusted Operations: with verified third-party technical vendors or cloud platform operators who assist in hosting our database or securely processing donations. These actors operate under strict binding confidentiality clauses and cannot use your data for independent purposes.

Your Legal Rights

In accordance with the Uganda Data Protection and Privacy Act, you retain complete control over your digital footprint. You possess the legal right to:

Request formal confirmation and a structured copy of all personal records we hold concerning you.
Demand the immediate rectification of inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete details.
Request the permanent erasure of your personal data from our systems (where no overlapping statutory retention laws apply).
Withdraw your operational consent for institutional communication or newsletter updates at any moment.
Object to specific automated data processing pathways.

To exercise any of these fundamental rights, please contact our legal desk directly at refugeehouse2025@gmail.com.

Public Information & Community Stories

Sections of our site, specifically our House of Culture & Heritage media portals, community commentary fields, or digital story highlights, may be configured for public visibility.

Any personal information, location details, or sensitive stories you choose to share openly in these zones becomes public information. We strongly advise you to exercise deep caution when disclosing sensitive details, as we cannot govern how third parties scrape, copy, or distribute information posted on public-facing internet pages.

We use digital cookies to elevate user interface responsiveness and remember your interface settings. You can manage, block, or completely delete cookies through your desktop or mobile browser options. Please note that disabling cookies may reduce functionality or disrupt form submissions on our Website.

Changes to This Policy

Refugee House reserves the right to revise, update, or alter this Privacy Policy at our discretion. Every update will be actively reflected on this page alongside a refreshed revision date. We encourage you to visit this page periodically to remain fully aware of how we protect your information.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, compliance concerns, or formal feedback regarding this Privacy Policy or our operational data methods, please get in touch with the Refugee House Operations Desk at refugeehouse2025@gmail.com.