Privacy policy

Novara Initiative is a nonprofit initiative focused on expanding access to education, mental health and wellbeing support, career development, skills, leadership, cultural exchange, and community opportunities for Afghan girls and women.

• Website: https://novarainitiative.org
• Contact: [email protected]

Depending on how you interact with Novara, we may collect information such as:

• Contact information, including your name and email address.
• Application and registration information, including information you provide when registering for programs, applying to volunteer, applying for mentorship, contacting us, or joining our community.
• Educational and program information, such as the programs you are interested in, your participation, and information necessary to organize or support your participation.
• Messages and communications, including information you provide when contacting Novara by email, through website forms, or through other communication channels.
• Technical information, such as information about your device, browser, IP address, and basic website usage data, where collected through our website or technical service providers.

We ask that you do not submit sensitive personal information unless it is specifically requested and necessary for a particular Novara service.

We may use personal information to:

• Process program, volunteer, mentor, or community applications.
• Communicate with you about Novara programs, events, opportunities, and activities.
• Provide registration confirmations and other necessary communications.
• Respond to questions, requests, and inquiries.
• Organize and manage classes, workshops, community activities, and events.
• Improve our programs, website, resources, and services.
• Understand participation and engagement so we can improve the experience of our community.
• Maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our website and services.
• Meet applicable legal or administrative requirements.

We aim to collect and use personal information only for clear and legitimate purposes and not use it for unrelated purposes without appropriate justification or permission.

When you register for a Novara program, submit a form, volunteer, join our community, or otherwise communicate with us, we may use your email address to send information related to your participation.

This may include:

• Registration confirmations
• Program information
• Event reminders
• Volunteer communications
• Community updates
• Responses to inquiries

Where we send newsletters or promotional/community communications that are not necessary for your participation, we will provide an appropriate way to unsubscribe where required.

Novara uses Brevo as an email-sending service for certain communications. Information necessary to send an email may be processed by Brevo on Novara's behalf.

Some Novara programs and applications may use Google Forms or other third-party services for registration or information collection.

When you use a third-party service, the information you submit may also be processed according to that provider's own privacy policy and terms.

For Google services, Google's privacy practices apply to information processed through Google products such as Forms, Sheets, and related services.

We encourage you to review the privacy information provided by third-party services when using them.

Some Novara activities relate to mental health and wellbeing.

Novara may collect limited information necessary to organize or provide a particular service. However, we do not ask users to provide detailed medical histories or sensitive health information unless specifically necessary for a service and appropriately handled.

Novara's general educational resources are not a substitute for professional medical or mental health care.

Novara is not an emergency service.

If you are in immediate danger or experiencing an emergency, contact the appropriate local emergency service or qualified professional.

Novara does not sell your personal information.

We may share limited information with trusted service providers when necessary to operate our services, such as providers used for:

• Website hosting and infrastructure
• Email delivery
• Form and registration management
• Data storage
• Communication and collaboration

We may also disclose information when reasonably necessary to comply with legal obligations, protect the security of our services, prevent abuse, or protect the rights and safety of Novara and members of our community.

We do not share personal information with third parties for their own unrelated marketing purposes without an appropriate basis or your permission where required.

Please be careful about information you choose to share publicly.

Content submitted for publication, such as blog posts, may become publicly available if accepted for publication.

Where Novara offers anonymous publication, we will follow the applicable submission procedure and avoid publicly displaying identifying information that you have asked us not to publish.

You should not share another person's private information without their permission.

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect personal information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.

Access to personal information is limited to people and systems that need it for legitimate Novara purposes.

However, no online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore cannot promise absolute security.

Appropriate security measures are an essential part of responsible handling of personal data.

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including legitimate operational, administrative, safety, and legal purposes.

When information is no longer needed, we may securely delete, anonymize, or otherwise dispose of it.

The appropriate retention period may differ depending on the type of information and the reason it was collected. Data-protection guidance recommends having justified retention periods rather than keeping personal information indefinitely.

Depending on applicable law and your location, you may have rights relating to your personal information, including the right to:

• Ask what personal information we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate information.
• Request deletion of information where appropriate.
• Ask us to restrict or stop certain uses of your information where applicable.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Ask questions about how your information is being used.

You can contact us at: [email protected]

We will consider and respond to valid requests in accordance with applicable law.

Privacy information should be made available when personal information is collected so people understand what will happen to their information.

Novara's programs may be accessible to young people.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children in situations where doing so would violate applicable law.

Where a program involves minors, Novara may apply additional safeguards and may require appropriate consent or other protections depending on the circumstances.

Novara has an international community, and participants may be located in different countries.

As a result, personal information may be processed by Novara or its service providers in countries other than the country where you live.

Different countries may have different privacy and data-protection laws. We take reasonable steps to protect information when it is processed through our systems and service providers.

Our website may use cookies or similar technologies that are necessary for website functionality, security, analytics, or improving user experience.

Where applicable, you may control certain cookies through your browser or available website settings.

We will update this section if we introduce additional analytics, advertising, or tracking technologies.

Novara's website contains links to external organizations, educational platforms, scholarship providers, mental health resources, career services, and other websites.

Novara is not responsible for the privacy practices, security, or content of external websites.

When you leave our website, we encourage you to review the privacy policy of the website you visit.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as Novara's services, technology, or practices develop.

When we make significant changes, we may update the “Last updated” date and, where appropriate, provide additional notice.

We encourage you to review this page periodically.

If you have questions, concerns, or requests about this Privacy Policy or how Novara handles personal information, please contact us: