Privacy policy

Who we are

Vimeundwa is run by upeo.ai. Under the Data Protection Act, 2019, upeo.ai is the data controller: we decide how your data is used and we are responsible for protecting it.

• Email: hello@upeo.ai
• Contact form: on our Contact page
• Registration with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC): approval pending

What we collect

Your answers

The questionnaire asks about your marriage: hard seasons, fights, separation, what helped and how things are today. Some of this is sensitive personal data under the Act, such as your health, your religion, your family life and any violence you have faced. Every question is optional.

Your answers are anonymous. We do not ask for your name in the questionnaire, and you never create an account.

Contact details, only if you choose

If you agree to a follow-up, to sharing your story or to talking with another couple, we ask for a phone number or email, and a name if you want. These are encrypted and stored in a separate place from your answers. You can say no and your answers still count.

If you choose to continue the survey on another device, your unfinished answers are locked (encrypted) on your phone before they reach us, and the key is only in the link you send yourself. We cannot read them. We delete them as soon as the link is opened, or after 3 days. Your first phone then asks us only whether the survey was finished, using a random number that carries no answers. We keep that number with the used link, never your answers, for 90 days, so the link can tell you the survey is already done.

What we do not collect

• No tracking pixels and no third-party analytics on the survey pages.
• On public pages we may use simple visitor counts that use no cookies and do not identify you.
• We never store your IP address with your answers. A scrambled (hashed) form of it is used to limit repeated submissions and spot duplicates, and it is kept apart from your answers.

Why we use it, and your consent

We use your data only for the purposes below, and only with your consent. We ask about each one before you answer, and you can say no to the story and contact questions and still take part.

1. Research. Your anonymous answers help us understand how Kenyan marriages get through hard seasons. If you do not agree at the start, nothing you entered is saved.
2. Training statistics. Combined numbers, never one person’s answers, may be shared with churches, mosques, counselling centres and other organisations to use in training. This is explained in the consent question at the start.
3. Stories. Only if you say yes in the story section, and only if your spouse knows and agrees. A person removes anything that could identify you and checks the story before it is published.

If you agree to a follow-up, we contact you once, about 12 months later, to ask how things are going. You can stop these messages anytime by replying STOP or by using the opt-out link in the message.

Our legal basis

We rely on your consent. Because some answers are sensitive personal data, we ask for clear consent before you start and keep a record of what you agreed to. You can withdraw your consent at any time, as explained below.

Who sees what

• The public sees published stories and combined statistics. Any number based on fewer than 10 people is hidden.
• Organisations such as churches and counselling centres see combined statistics only, never individual answers. They must first accept a data-use agreement.
• Approved researchers may receive answer rows with identifying details removed, only after signing a data-sharing agreement. Birth year becomes an age band, county becomes a region, and written comments are left out unless our staff decide to include reviewed comments.
• Story moderators see the answers behind a story so they can check it, but not your contact details.
• Only a small number of senior staff can see contact details, and every time they do, it is recorded.

We do not sell your data. Follow-up messages are sent by WhatsApp or email through a messaging service that delivers them for us.

Ethics and permits

• Ethics approval: approval pending
• NACOSTI research permit: approval pending

How long we keep it

• Anonymous answers are kept for research, so that we can follow how marriages change over the years.
• Contact details are deleted when you ask, or once the follow-up period has ended.

Your rights

Under the Data Protection Act, 2019, you have the right to:

• be told how your data is used, as this page does;
• see the personal data we hold about you;
• ask us to correct it if it is wrong;
• ask us to delete your contact details;
• object to how we use your data, or withdraw your consent;
• complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC).

To use any of these rights, use the "My data" page below, or contact us through the form on our Contact page or at hello@upeo.ai.

Using the "My data" page

1. Enter the phone number or email you gave us.
2. We send you a one-time code. Enter it to show the number or email is yours.
3. Our staff then delete your contact details, unpublish your story if there is one, and withdraw your answers from future statistics.

Statistics already published, or already shared with researchers, before your request cannot be called back. Your answers will not be counted from then on.

Go to My data

How we protect it

• Contact details are encrypted (AES-256-GCM) and kept apart from your answers.
• Every time staff look at contact details, it is recorded in an audit log.
• Staff see only what their role needs.
• The site uses HTTPS, and our forms have bot checks.
• Statistics hide any group smaller than 10 people.

Children

The survey is only for adults aged 18 and over who are, or have been, married. If someone says they are under 18, the survey ends and nothing is saved.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update this page. We will not use answers you have already given for a new purpose you did not agree to.