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Privacy Policy

We collect only what we reasonably need to build safe, meaningful mentorship, and we treat young people with particular care.

  1. Who we are and what this policy covers

    BhaiBahini is a mentorship initiative designed to connect young Nepalese with trusted guidance from verified professionals. This Privacy Policy applies to bhaibahini.org, app.bhaibahini.org when made available, interest and application forms, pilot activities, communications, and related services operated by legal partners. 

    This policy explains what information we collect, why we use it, when we share it, how long we keep it, and the choices available to you. 

  2. Information we collect

    • Basic contact information, such as name, email address, phone number, country, city, and preferred language. 
    • Role and interest information, such as whether you are interested in participating as a mentee, mentor, parent or guardian, school, community organization, sponsor, or partner. 
    • Mentor information, such as professional background, skills, education, languages, biography, availability, identity-verification information, references, and screening responses. 
    • Mentee information, such as age range, education stage, interests, goals, guidance needs, availability, and parent or guardian information where required. 
    • Communications, feedback, safety reports, support requests, and information submitted during applications or program administration. 
    • Payment or sponsorship information if paid services are introduced. Payment-card details should be processed by an authorized payment provider and not stored directly by BhaiBahini unless clearly disclosed. 

    Information collected automatically

    When you use our website or services, we may receive limited technical information such as IP address, browser and device type, referring page, pages visited, date and time, language settings, and essential cookie or security-log information. We will disclose any analytics or optional cookies through an appropriate notice or consent tool. 

    Information from other people or organizations

    We may receive information from a parent or guardian, school, community partner, reference, verification provider, sponsor, or service provider. We will use it only for legitimate program, safety, verification, or administrative purposes. 

  3. How we use information

    • Respond to questions and manage interest lists, applications, and pilot participation. 
    • Assess eligibility, verify mentors, and support safe, appropriate matching. 
    • Provide onboarding, scheduling, communications, mentorship, and participant support. 
    • Protect participants, investigate reports, enforce program rules, and prevent fraud or misuse. 
    • Improve accessibility, usability, content, and program effectiveness using appropriately limited information. 
    • Send service communications and only where permitted, newsletters or program updates that a person can unsubscribe from. 
    • Meet legal, financial, safeguarding, and recordkeeping obligations. 

    We do not sell personal information. We do not use the personal information of children or mentees for targeted advertising. We will not use sensitive information for an unrelated purpose without an appropriate lawful basis or notice. 

  4. Children and young people

    BhaiBahini is designed with young people in mind. Public interest forms are not intended for children under 13 to submit on their own. If you are under 13, please do not provide personal information directly; a parent or guardian may contact us instead. 

    Before a participant under 18 enters the mentorship pilot or program, BhaiBahini may require parent or guardian notice, consent, and participation in onboarding. We will collect only information reasonably needed for eligibility, safety, matching, and delivery. Parents or guardians may contact us to ask about, correct, or request deletion of a child’s information, subject to safety and legal retention needs. 

  5. When we share information

    We may share limited information with the following recipients when necessary: 

    • Authorized BhaiBahini team members and approved contractors who need it for their work. 
    • Potential mentors or mentees after appropriate onboarding and only to the extent needed for a proposed match. 
    • Parents or guardians where required for a minor’s participation or safety. 
    • Service providers supporting hosting, forms, email, scheduling, video sessions, identity verification, analytics, security, payments, or support. 
    • Schools, community partners, or sponsors only as described in collection, with permission, or in aggregated or de-identified form. 
    • Authorities, emergency services, child-protection professionals, or legal advisers when reasonably necessary to protect someone, investigate serious misconduct, or comply with law. 
    • A successor organization in a merger, restructuring, financing, or transfer, subject to appropriate confidentiality and notice. 

    A sponsor does not receive a mentee’s private profile, session content, or identifying outcome information merely because it funds access. 

  6. Mentor profiles and stories

    A founding mentor’s name, photograph, biography, professional information, location at an appropriate level, and areas of expertise will be published only with documented permission. We will not publish fabricated ratings, employers, availability, endorsements, or testimonials. Ratings or impact stories will appear only when they are based on genuine participation, and the required permissions have been obtained. 

  7. International data handling

    BhaiBahini may be operated by teams and service providers in Nepal, the United States, and other countries. This means that information may be accessed or processed outside the country where it was collected. We will use reasonable contractual, access-control, security, and data-minimization measures for cross-border handling and comply with applicable requirements. 

  8. Retention and deletion

    We retain information only for as long as reasonably needed for the purpose collected, including program administration, safeguarding, dispute resolution, legal obligations, and security. Interest-list information should be reviewed and deleted or reconfirmed periodically. Unsuccessful applications and verification records should have defined retention periods. Safety records may need to be kept longer when necessary to protect participants or document an investigation. 

    When information is no longer required, we will delete it, anonymize it, or securely isolate it according to our retention process. 

  9. Security

    We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. No online system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please do not send highly sensitive information through an ordinary contact or interest form unless we specifically request it through an approved method. 

  10. Your choices and rights

    Depending on where you live and the law that applies, you may ask to access, correct, delete, restrict, or receive a copy of certain personal information; withdraw consent where processing relies on consent; or object to certain uses. You may unsubscribe from non-essential emails at any time. 

    We may need to verify your identity or authority as a parent or guardian before completing a request. Some information may be retained where required for safety, legal compliance, or the rights of others. 

  11. Third-party links and services

    Our website may link to external sites or use third-party services such as forms, calendars, video conferencing, or payment tools. Their privacy practices may differ from ours. Review their notices before providing information. 

  12. Changes to this policy

    We may update this policy as the pilot and platform develop. We will post the revised date and provide additional notice when a change materially affects how we handle personal information. 

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