Community Rules and Privacy Guidelines
Last updated on: January 16, 2024
Thank you for being part of the ECD Connect community. To ensure the best possible experience for all members, we have established some basic guidelines for participation that constitute our community’s terms and conditions. We ask all members to read and follow these rules and guidelines.
Our vision for this community is to provide a space for ECD implementers and advocates to connect around emerging themes, learn from each other, gain support and resources, highlight their achievements, and share best practices that improve the lives of young children. The more members share, respond, and engage with one another, the closer we are to fulfilling the potential of this community. But for it to work, we also need to ensure that members feel the discussions in the community are appropriate, relevant, and constructive. ECDAN team members monitoring the site reserve the right to suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who violates these rules. If you have questions about these terms or wish to report concerns, please contact us at info@ecdan.org.
Our Principles
ECDAN is guided by a set of principles in two domains: social justice and ways of working. These principles underpin all we do, and we ask all partners and members to uphold them as well. Our principles include:
· Human & Child Rights – Promote and protect the rights of the child, human rights, and the rights of people living with developmental delays and disabilities, framing access to early childhood care and education as a right.
· Equity & Inclusion - Make intentional efforts to include and uplift the voices of disadvantaged and excluded communities so that all contributions are valued and so that no child is left behind.
· Gender Equality - Champion gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women, recognizing that children benefit when women have access to employment and support systems.
· Anti-racism & Non-discrimination - Actively promote racial equality and non-discrimination by shining a light on both the needs and achievements of communities facing discrimination.
· Localization - Challenge dominant power dynamics and empower local communities and actors by creating space to learn from and contribute to national-level actors.
· Respect - Build trust and respect the contributions and perspectives of all actors.
· Collaboration & Leverage - Co-create with partners, incentivize collaboration over competition, build on what is existing, and leverage the financial and other resources of all actors.
· Transparency & Accountability - Make information accessible to all stakeholders, embrace and learn from failure as well as success, and insist on follow through on commitments made by all actors.
· Innovation - Value and nurture innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship with a focus on disrupting the status quo in order to create systems change at scale.
The Rules
· Respect others. Focus on the content of posts and not on the people making them. Extend an attitude of welcome and capacity strengthening to newer members and lay-level practitioners and advocates. There’s no such thing as a stupid question and everyone’s ideas and experiences have merit.
· Respect the purpose of the community. Use the community to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals instead of promoting products or services that you provide. If you’ve found a product or service helpful, you are welcome to share your recommendation with others but not in a manner that sounds like advertising. We hope that interactions in the community will lead to new collaborations and partnerships, but the community should not feel like a marketplace.
· Use caution when discussing products, individuals, and institutions. Information posted in the community forums and in the libraries is available for all to see, and comments are subject to libel, slander, and antitrust laws.
· All defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal content are strictly prohibited. Do not post anything that you would not want the world to see or know came from you.
· Respect intellectual property. Post content that you have personally created or have permission to use and share. Give recognition and properly credit content creators. Provide links to resources in their original locations so that people can read more for themselves. Contact creators of content directly if you have questions about how to use their content.
Discussion Etiquette
· State concisely and clearly the topic of your comments in the subject line. This allows members to respond more appropriately to your post and makes it easier for members to search the posts by subject.
· Use topic tags to categorize the topic of your post. Choose only the tag(s) that are most relevant to your post. This will help your post filter into member’s email digests based on their stated interest areas. It will also help similar posts be grouped together in an easy search function.
· Send messages such as "thanks for the information" or "me, too" to individuals privately, not to the entire group. Do this by selecting "Reply privately" in the reply button menu in every message.
· Do not post administrative messages, such as “remove me from the group,” to discussion boards. Instead, go to your profile settings to make changes. If you are changing email addresses, you do not need to remove yourself from the list and rejoin with your new email address. Simply change your contact details in your profile settings. You can also change your email digest subscriptions in your profile. If you need other technical assistance, use the contact us form on the site or write directly to info@ecdan.org.
The Legal Stuff
This community site is provided as a collaboration platform for the global ECD community by ECDAN. ECDAN is not responsible for the opinions and information posted on this site by others. The content on the site is for general information and use only. Your use of any information or materials on this site is entirely at your own risk. We disclaim all warranties with regard to information posted on this site, whether posted by ECDAN or any third party; this disclaimer includes all implied warranties. In no event shall ECDAN be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any information posted on this site. Website links may be provided to other websites for members’ convenience. They do not signify we endorse the website(s) nor that the link is still active, valid, or current.
The website contains material which is owned by or licensed to use and may contain material for which third parties have given permission to share publicly. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance, and graphics of the site. Reproduction is prohibited in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.
Do not post any information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner. By posting material, the posting party warrants and represents that he or she owns the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants ECDAN and users of this site the nonexclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
Contributions must be civil and tasteful. Do not post any defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive, or illegal content. They must not contain any objectionable content and must not infringe on the law. You agree not to upload or attach any files that contain viruses or may damage the operation of another’s computer. You also agree not to advertise or offer to see any goods or services or post any content generally considered to be SPAM.
Messages should not be posted if they encourage or facilitate members to arrive at any agreement that either expressly or impliedly leads to price fixing, a boycott of another's business, or other conduct intended to illegally restrict free trade. Messages that encourage or facilitate an agreement about the following subjects are inappropriate: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins, or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; or selection, rejection, or termination of customers or suppliers.
ECDAN does not actively monitor the site for inappropriate postings and does not on its own undertake editorial control of postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of ECDAN we will take all appropriate action.
ECDAN reserves the right to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these guidelines.
Privacy Policy
Any personal information you provide to us including and similar to your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address will not be released, sold, or rented to any entities or individuals outside of our organization except as noted below.
With whom we share the personal information we collect through this site:
· Our Service Providers - We may share your personal information with companies (including those that host the website and provide analytic services) that perform services on our behalf. Our service providers are required by contract to protect the confidentiality of the personal information we share with them and to use it only to provide specific services on our behalf.
· Business Transfers - Your personal information may be transferred to another entity (either an affiliated entity or an unrelated third party) in connection with a merger, reorganization, dissolution or similar corporate event of one of our service providers or change in ECDAN’s legal status. If such a transfer were ever to occur, the acquiring entity’s use of your personal information will still be subject to this Privacy Policy.
· Government and Legal Disclosures - We may disclose the personal information we collect through this Site, when we, in good faith, believe disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law (or a court order or subpoena); to prevent or investigate a possible crime, such as fraud or identity theft; to enforce our Terms and Conditions or other agreements that govern your use of this Site; or to protect the rights, property or safety of our company, our users, or others.ny information about you as an individual which we collect from the site will be used in accordance with applicable laws. We will use your email address to send you information about the community and ECDAN’s work. You will be offered the option to opt out of receiving emails.
External Sites
We are not responsible for the content of external internet sites. You are advised to read the privacy policy of external sites before disclosing any personal information.
Cookies
A "cookie" is a small data text file that is placed in your browser and allows us to recognize you each time you visit this site and save your preferred settings. Cookies themselves do not contain any personal information, and we do not use cookies to collect personal information. Your browser may be capable of being programmed to reject cookies, or to warn you before downloading cookies, and this information may be found in your browser’s ‘help’ section.
Remember The Risks Whenever You Use The Internet
While we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to us and you are solely responsible for maintaining the secrecy of any passwords or other account information. In addition, other Internet sites or services that may be accessible through our site have separate data and privacy practices independent of us, and therefore we disclaim any responsibility or liability for their policies or actions. Please contact those vendors and others directly if you have any questions about their privacy policies.
For any other information, please contact us using the form or via email to info@ecdan.org. Please also refer to ECDAN’s general website privacy policy.