Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal information the Young Global Leaders Network collects, why we collect it, who sees it, how long we keep it and the choices you have. It covers our website at yglnetwork.com, the member portal at members.yglnetwork.com, our application forms and the emails we send.

We have written it to be read, not skimmed past. If anything is unclear, write to us at membership@yglnetwork.com and we will explain.

Who we are

The Young Global Leaders Network LBG (“YGLN”, “we”, “us”) is a company limited by guarantee registered in Ghana, incorporated in Accra on 30 September 2020, and holds Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. We decide how your personal information is used, which makes us responsible for it under data protection law.

You can reach us about anything in this policy at membership@yglnetwork.com.

What we collect

When you apply for membership we ask for:

your name, email address, WhatsApp number, date of birth, gender, nationality, country of residence and city;
your current role, organisation, sector, years of experience, LinkedIn address and the group project you would like to join;
your written answers about why you want to join and your leadership, how you heard about us, and any partner code you use;
a passport photograph of yourself;
if you apply at the Africa rate, a copy of a document that shows where you live: a national ID card, a recent utility bill or a passport bio data page;
your declarations, including the date you made the Fellows’ Pledge, and the internet address your application was sent from.

When you become a member, we also hold your membership number, tier, joining and renewal dates, invoices, and anything you choose to add to your profile, such as a biography, interests, languages or a cover picture. We keep a record of what you do in the portal where it is part of a service you use: posts and comments, messages, cohort posts, mentoring bookings, requests to the membership team, scholarship and job saves, and your community service projects.

Through the forms on our website we collect what you send us when you apply to be a mentor, to join a United Nations session delegation, or to serve on a country team. Country team applications include an age band, your answers to the selection task and a link to a short video you record. If you sign up for our updates, we hold your name, email address, country and WhatsApp number if you give them, and your answers to the short questions on the sign up form.

For the Top 100 Young African Leaders of Impact, we collect what a nominator tells us about the person they nominate (their name, email address, country, category and the reason for the nomination) and the nominator’s own name, email address and connection to them. An applicant gives us their name, contact details, date of birth, gender, nationality, country and city, role and organisation, a photograph, their written answers and evidence, and the names and email addresses of two referees.

We do not see or store your card details. Card payments are taken by our payment provider, Stripe, which sends us a confirmation. We keep a record of what was paid and when.

To keep accounts safe, the portal records when you sign in and from which internet address, and it asks for an emailed code the first time you sign in on a new phone or computer. A small cookie then lets that device be recognised for 30 days so you are not asked again every time. WordPress also sets the cookies that keep you signed in.

The mentor, United Nations session and country team forms, and the country team selection task, keep what you have typed in your own browser until you send it, so an interrupted connection does not lose your answers. That copy stays on your device and is cleared once your application arrives. The website also remembers, in your browser, whether you have closed or answered the sign up box, so it does not keep appearing.

We do not use advertising cookies and we do not sell or rent information to advertisers.

Why we use your information

To consider your application, contact you about it and, if you are accepted, run your membership: your account, invoices, renewals, benefits and certificates. We do this to carry out our agreement with you.
To send the service emails that membership needs, such as sign in codes, booking confirmations and renewal reminders.
To send news, opportunities and event invitations, only if you have asked for them. You can stop them at any time by replying to any of these emails or writing to membership@yglnetwork.com.
To keep the portal and our members safe: checking applications for spam and misuse, protecting accounts and investigating problems. These are our legitimate interests.
To count what the network does, for example how many members joined or attended mentoring in a quarter. The impact figures we publish are totals and never name anyone.
To meet our legal and accounting duties.

Who can see your information

Your passport photograph becomes your profile photograph once you are a member, and it appears on your digital badge. Other members see your profile according to the visibility setting you choose for each detail: the public, all members, your connections or only you.

Anyone who has your membership number can check it on our verification page, which shows your name, tier, chapter, the month you joined, the date your membership runs to and any certificate you hold, while your membership is current. Once it lapses, the page says only that the number is not current. This is what makes the badge and certificate trustworthy.

Members appointed to a country team can see, for members living in their country, your name, tier, membership number, city, joining date, membership status, whether you have made the Pledge and completed your service project this year, and your email address, so they can welcome you and keep you involved. They are volunteers bound by a confidentiality duty in their letter of appointment.

Top 100 applications are read by our staff and by the independent judges for that category, who see the application but not the applicant’s contact details or referees. Judges sign in with a private link and an emailed code. We contact referees only for shortlisted applicants. If you are chosen as an honouree, we publish your name, photograph, category, country, role, organisation and a short citation on our website. Nothing about other applicants or nominators is published, and we do not tell a nominator how an application progresses.

When you book a mentoring session, your mentor sees your name and what you want to discuss. When you ask to join a United Nations session delegation, we pass the United Nations the details it requires for accreditation.

Our staff see what they need to run the membership. Your proof of residence and the copy of your passport photograph sent with your application can be opened only by staff.

We use trusted providers to run our services: website and portal hosting, email delivery, card payments and file storage. They act on our instructions and may not use your information for their own purposes. We do not sell personal information, and we share it with anyone else only if you agree or the law requires it.

Where your information is held

Our providers may hold or process information in the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States or other countries. Where information leaves the country you live in, we use providers that protect it to the standard the law requires.

How long we keep it

Proof of residence: deleted thirty days after we decide on your application, or ninety days after you send it if no decision has been made.
The copy of your passport photograph sent with your application: moved to your profile when your membership starts, or deleted on the same timetable as the proof of residence.
Applications that do not lead to membership: kept for up to two years, so we can deal with any questions or a later application, then deleted.
Membership records and invoices: kept while you are a member and for six years after your membership ends, for our accounts and legal duties.
Messages, posts and other portal activity: kept while your account is open. You can delete your own posts at any time.
Top 100 applications: the photographs of applicants who are not chosen are deleted thirty days after the results are published, and the rest of their application is kept for up to two years. An honouree’s published profile stays on our website as a record of the recognition.
Mailing list subscriptions: until you unsubscribe.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, ask us to stop or limit using it, or ask for a copy in a form you can take elsewhere. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Write to membership@yglnetwork.com and we will reply within one month.

Some requests affect your membership: we cannot run an account without your name and email address, for example. We will tell you if that applies.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Data Protection Commission of Ghana, or to the data protection authority where you live, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom.

Age

Membership is open to people aged 18 to 45, and country team posts to people aged 21 and over. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe someone under 18 has sent us their details, tell us and we will delete them.

Keeping it safe

Access to member records is limited to the staff who need it. Staff sign in with a password and an emailed code. Documents sent with applications are kept in a protected folder that cannot be opened from the web. No system is perfectly secure, and if something goes wrong we will tell the people affected and the authorities where the law requires it.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when our services or the law change. The date at the top shows when it last changed, and we will tell members by email about any change that matters.