Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Beyond Inclusion Tanzania is duly registered as a national Non-Governmental Organisation in the United Republic of Tanzania. Our registered office is at Plot No. 35, House No. 05, Block W, Capripoint, Msukuma Street, P.O. Box 2476, Nyamagana, Mwanza, Tanzania.

Beyond Inclusion Tanzania ("BIT", "we", "us" or "our") is the data controller for personal information collected through this website (bitz.tz) and through our email correspondence. Our registration as a data controller with the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) of Tanzania under the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 is in progress; this policy will be updated with the registration number once it is issued.

2. Information we collect

We only collect information you choose to give us:

• Contact form — your name, email address, optional phone number, subject and message.
• Newsletter — your email address and your consent choice.
• Volunteer applications — your name, email address, optional phone number, area of interest, availability and motivation.
• Ask BIT assistant — the questions you type, so we can answer them and improve the assistant. Please do not include personal details in your questions.
• Staff accounts (dashboard) — name, email address, role and login activity for authorised BIT staff only.
• Email correspondence — anything you send to our addresses (see section 8).

We do not use analytics, advertising or social-media tracking cookies. Necessary local storage is used only to remember your cookie choice, language and accessibility settings.

3. Why we use it and our lawful basis

• To answer your enquiry or application — performance of a contract / your request (Personal Data Protection Act s. 24(1)(b)) and our legitimate interest in running the organisation.
• To send the newsletter — your consent, which you can withdraw at any time via the unsubscribe link or by emailing us.
• To keep the website secure (spam and abuse prevention, rate limiting, audit logs) — our legitimate interest.
• To meet legal, safeguarding and donor-accountability obligations — legal obligation.

4. How long we keep it

• Contact-form messages: 12 months after the enquiry is closed.
• Newsletter email addresses: until you unsubscribe; deleted within 30 days of unsubscribing.
• Volunteer applications: 12 months after a decision, or for the duration of the engagement plus 12 months if you volunteer with us.
• Ask BIT assistant logs: 90 days.
• Staff account and login data: for as long as the account is active, then in line with our HR and audit requirements.

Records needed for legal, safeguarding or audit purposes may be kept longer where the law requires it.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell or rent personal information. We share it only with the service providers below, who process it on our instructions under written terms, and with authorised BIT staff, professional advisers or public authorities where the law requires.

• Base44 (website hosting, authentication and database) — data is stored on Base44 infrastructure, which may be located outside Tanzania.
• Hostinger (email hosting for info@bitz.tz and privacy@bitz.tz, and domain services).
• Google Fonts (typeface delivery) — your browser requests the font files from Google and shares your IP address in doing so.
• Google Maps — loaded on the Contact page only after you click "Show map".

Where information leaves Tanzania we rely on the providers' contractual data-protection commitments as permitted under the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022.

6. How we protect it

We use HTTPS everywhere, role-based access to the staff dashboard, input validation and spam controls on every public form, rate limiting on public endpoints, audit logging of administrative actions, and least-privilege access for staff. If a breach is likely to affect you we will notify you and the PDPC as required by law.

7. Your rights

Under the Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 you may ask us to access, correct, delete or restrict the use of your personal information, object to processing, withdraw consent, or receive a copy of the information you gave us. Email privacy@bitz.tz and we will respond within 30 days. You may also complain to the Personal Data Protection Commission of Tanzania.

8. Email correspondence

Email is our main way of communicating. When you email us, we keep your message and our reply for as long as needed to deal with the matter and for the retention periods in section 4. Our mailboxes are hosted by Hostinger.

9. Children and safeguarding

Our programmes serve children and persons with disabilities. We do not knowingly collect children's personal information through the website. Information about programme participants is handled under our Safeguarding Policy and is never published without appropriate consent.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when our services or the law change. The date at the top shows the latest version. Significant changes will be highlighted on this page.

11. Contact

Data-protection requests and questions: privacy@bitz.tz. General enquiries: info@bitz.tz or +255 757 544 759. Post: Beyond Inclusion Tanzania, Plot No. 35, House No. 05, Block W, Capripoint, Msukuma Street, P.O. Box 2476, Nyamagana, Mwanza, Tanzania.