Privacy Policy

CANADA AFRICA COMMUNITY HEALTH ALLIANCE (CACHA)

PRIVACY POLICY

 

CACHA’s mission is to improve the health for rural communities through partnerships to facilitate programs and initiatives for disease prevention, treatment, care, support, and education to the most vulnerable. Based on the determinants of the health model adopted by CACHA, CACHA accomplishes this in and with rural African communities through medical, education, and infrastructure missions and small projects in a variety of sectors.

Purpose

CACHA is committed to ensuring that any information provided to CACHA is protected, safeguarded and only collected, used or disclosed for the purposes of fulfilling its mission of providing community health services in rural communities in Africa. This Privacy Policy is designed to help individuals and organizations understand how their personal information is managed, collected, used and disclosed at CACHA (hereinafter, “CACHA”, “we”, “us” or “our”) so they can make informed decisions before providing CACHA with their personal information. The Policy draws upon and closely follows the privacy principles found in the Personal Information and Protection and Electronic Documents Act. 

Scope and Application

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information collected, used and disclosed by CACHA with respect to all individuals who participate in our activities, are stakeholders in our mission, or otherwise communicate with us, including donors, volunteers, members, fundraisers, event participants, partners, and sponsors.  The information we collect enables CACHA to deliver programs, fundraise, and conduct marketing efforts.

This Privacy Policy applies whenever you interact with us, including without limitation through our website located at cacha.ca, by telephone, email, in person, or other means to make donations, apply for work or volunteer positions, and participate in fundraising activities.

This Policy does not cover CACHA’s presence on social media platforms, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.  In the context of those platforms, we are merely another user and the privacy policies as well as the terms and conditions of those platforms are applicable.

If what is outlined in this Policy does not address a specific situation, we encourage individuals and organizations to contact CACHA [email protected] for clarification or concerns.

Personal Information

Based on generally-accepted privacy principles as articulated in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and other related provincial statutes, CACHA defines, personal information as recorded information about an identifiable individual, including,

(a)information relating to the race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation or marital or family status of the individual,

(b)information relating to the education or the medical, psychiatric, psychological, criminal or employment history of the individual or information relating to financial transactions in which the individual has been involved,

(c)any identifying number, symbol or other particular assigned to the individual,

(d)the address, telephone number, fingerprints or blood type of the individual,

(e)the personal opinions or views of the individual except where they relate to another individual,

(f)correspondence sent to an institution by the individual that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature, and replies to that correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence,

(g)the views or opinions of another individual about the individual, and

(h)the individual’s name where it appears with other personal information relating to the individual or where the disclosure of the name would reveal other personal information about the individual.

Principles that Guide our Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Policy is designed to comply with applicable privacy legislation in Canada.  It incorporates the following 10 principles contained in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act:

1. Accountability
2. Purpose
3. Consent 
4. Limiting Collection
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention
6. Accuracy of Information
7. Safeguarding Information
8. Openness
9. Access to Information
10. Challenging Compliance

1. Accountability

CACHA is responsible for maintaining and protecting the information under its control.  Accountability for this function within our organization is held by:

Executive Director

Canada Africa Community Health Alliance

317 – 2310 St. Laurent Blvd.

Ottawa, Ontario

K1G 5H9

[email protected]

Tel: 613 234-9992 (420)

1. Purposes for which Personal Information is Collected, Used or Disclosed by CACHA

In accordance with generally-accepted privacy principles, CACHA only collects, uses or discloses the personal information for the purposes noted below or purposes reasonably-connected to such purposes. 

The information that we collect, use and disclose and the reasons why we collect such information are as follows:

• Contact information, such as your name, postal address, email address, telephone number – to provide quality, responsive service; to issue receipts for income tax purposes; to send thank you communications; to communicate about our programs, special events, and other similar information to members, sponsors, partners, volunteers, donors and others who interact with us, through cost-effective e-newsletters or email messages; and to engage in fundraising efforts;
• Donation details such as the date of the gift, amount, and purpose (eg:  dedicated to a particular mission or project or to CACHA’s general fund) – to issue income tax receipts; to maintain accurate financial records; to contact donors to thank them and inform them of the work done by CACHA; and, to solicit donations. 
• Transactional and other financial information, such as payment methods and preferences, billing and banking information (e.g., credit card number and expiry date or chequing account transit numbers) – required to process a donation;
• Travel information such as flight numbers to track flight path to and from destinations for missions or field visits;
• Health Information such as your blood type and certification by a health professional to determine an individual’s suitability for volunteer duties with CACHA; 
• Next of kin information, such as names, postal address, email address, telephone number in the event that contact is necessary during a mission or field visit;
• Employment or volunteer application information, which may include some of the information described above, as well as letters of interest and any additional information provided by you in the application form – to determine whether an applicant for employment or for a volunteer position has the required skills, training, education and attributes that CACHA considers important to the success of a mission or project or to function effectively as an employee; and
• Security and background checks – for the health and safety of volunteers and beneficiaries of CACHA missions and projects in host countries; and to comply with local laws.

We collect information about our members, sponsors, partners, volunteers, donors, and others who interact with us, in the following ways:

• via our website;
• via the phone;
• via postal mail;
• via email;
• via cheques received;
• in-person;
• via volunteer mission and project field visit application forms, and health certification forms.

1. Consent

CACHA collects, uses and discloses personal information with the knowledge and consent of the individual and only for purposes related to its mandate, as more particularly described in section 2 (“Purposes”)  of this  Privacy Policy. Where possible CACHA obtains consent directly from the individual concerned at the time of collection, such as through volunteer application forms, and health certification forms. 

  

While we strive at all times to ensure that consent has been expressly obtained, where required and reasonable in the circumstances, consent may be implied. Information with a higher sensitivity (such as medical or health information, or information related to security and background checks) will generally require express consent.  

Where the information is being used for a new purpose, one not previously identified by CACHA, the individual’s express consent will be obtained. 

In limited circumstances, and if required by law, CACHA may be required to use or disclose personal information without the knowledge and consent of the individual. 

If you wish to withdraw your consent or to opt out of the uses or disclosures of your information held by CACHA, you may do so by contacting the CACHA Executive Director. It is to be noted that due to federal law requirements, once information about donations and tax receipts is collected, we cannot delete this information until federal law permits this.

1. Limiting Collection

CACHA collects only the information that is necessary for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.

1. Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention

CACHA collects, uses and discloses information only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider appropriate under the circumstances.

Information gathered by CACHA is kept in confidence.  CACHA staff, members of the CACHA Board of Directors and designated individuals have authorized access to information based on their need to deal with the information for the purposes noted in section 2 of this Privacy Policy (“Purposes”) above.

CACHA staff, members of the CACH Board of Directors, and designated individuals who require such personal information are bound by this Policy and are required to sign an agreement indicating they understand and accept this commitment. Safeguards are in place to ensure that the information is not disclosed or shared more widely than is necessary to achieve the purposes for which it was collected.  

1. Accuracy of Information

Information is kept as accurate, complete and up to date as necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used.  Individuals and organizations are encouraged to provide updates to their information as changes occur, to enable us to continue to provide services to them.  

1. Safeguarding Information

Information, whatever its form, will be protected by security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.  The safeguards will protect information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.  CACHA’s measures of protection include:

• Physical measures – a locked cashbox in a locked storage room with restricted access;
• Organizational measures – limiting access to the information on a ‘need-to-know’ basis;
• Technological measures – the use of passwords and password protected documents; 
• Procedural measures – the shredding of sensitive information.

We will store your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, except where otherwise required or permitted by law.  Once no longer required, your personal information will be securely destroyed or anonymized (so that the information no longer identifies you).

The personal information you provide to us via the CACHA website will be transmitted over the internet and unfortunately, internet transmissions are not completely secure. Once received, we will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information but we cannot guarantee the security of your information while it is being transmitted. 

It should be noted that when you click on links on the CACHA site, they may direct you away from our site. CACHA is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other sites.  You are encouraged to read their privacy statements.

1. Openness

CACHA is committed to being open about its policies and practices with respect to the handling of information.  Our Privacy Policy is available through our website.  If a hard copy or additional information is required, requests for such information may be made to the Executive Director.   

1. Access to Information

Individuals and organizations may request a copy of their information held at CACHA by submitting a written request to the Executive Director, CACHA, 317 – 2310 St. Laurent Blvd., Ottawa Ontario K1G 5H9.  Acceptable proof of identification is required before such information is given out.  If you feel the information we have about you is inaccurate, you may request that it be reviewed and, if inaccurate, changed by contacting CACHA’s Executive Director.

1. Challenging Compliance

An individual or company can challenge compliance with the above policy by providing written details of the challenge to:

The President of CACHA’s Board of Directors, 

Canada Africa Community Health Alliance

317 – 2310 St. Laurent Blvd.

Ottawa, Ontario

K1G 5H9

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Updated and approved by CACHA Board of Directors March 9, 2022