Welcome to the Agora Web Site!

Please take a moment to read the following Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and confirm your acceptance to continue using the Web Site. 

The Agora Web Site is operated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Three United Nations Plaza, New York, New York 10017 – USA).

UNICEF reserves the right to seek all remedies available by law for any violation of these terms of use, including any violation of UNICEF's rights in the UNICEF name and emblem and its rights in connection with the information, artwork, text, video, audio, or pictures (together, the "Content") of the UNICEF Web Site.

Agora is a personal learning and development portal offering a collection of resources, tools and services for your personal use and viewing.

Acceptable use

You agree to use this site only for lawful purposes, and in a manner that does not infringe the rights of, or restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of this site by any third party.

The Agora Web Site is open to and welcomes people from around the world. Due to the diversity of users,  UNICEF aims to create an environment on Agora where every person feels comfortable, no matter their nationality, gender, cultural background, religion, sexual orientation or political conviction.

You agree not to do any of the following: (a) defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal, moral, or human rights of others (such as rights of privacy and publicity); (b) publish, post, distribute or disseminate any defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent or unlawful material or information; (c) upload or attach files that contain software or other material protected by intellectual property laws (or by rights of privacy) unless the user owns or controls the rights thereto or has received all necessary consents; (d) upload or attach files that contain viruses, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programmes that may damage the operation of another's computer; (e) delete any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in any file that is uploaded; (f) falsify the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded; (g) advertise or offer to sell any goods or services, or conduct or forward surveys, contests, or chain letters; or (h) download any file posted by another user that the user knows, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in such manner. UNICEF reserves the absolute right to delete any material posted to the UNICEF Web Site without notice to the user.

UNICEF accepts no responsibility or liability in respect of the conduct of any user in connection with such facilities, or for any material submitted by users and carried on the UNICEF Web Site including, for example, responsibility or liability for the accuracy or reliability of any information, data, opinions, advice or statements made in such material.

You understand that UNICEF cannot control all content that is posted on this site. Occasionally, content that does violate our Terms of Use may appear on our site. You agree that when you are exposed to content which does not conform with our Terms of Use or that you otherwise find objectionable or offensive that we are not responsible for such incidents.  If you see any content that violates our Terms of Use, please email us at agora@unicef.org     

Software disclaimer

Agora is built on TotaraLMS software. While the software is open source, core features, patches and upgrades are made available to UNICEF under non-transferable license. For more information about TotaraLMS, please visit http://totaralms.com/ for more information.

Individual access rights

Users are provided with personalized access to content as well as specific features, based on their profile.

Your access to Agora is personal. You are not allowed to share details of the account that has been provided to you or created by you. You are responsible for all uses of your account, even if your account is used by someone else. Sharing account details may result in temporary or definitive suspension of your rights to use Agora.

If you have any reason to believe that your account is no longer secure – if your password has been stolen, for instance – you should change your password as soon as possible. If you cannot access your account to change your password, notify us at agora@unicef.org 

 

Posting Content

Posting and contributing is great, but we want to make sure you do it respectfully! When you publish or post something, be aware that it can be read by other users in most instances.

We are trusting you as an author to make sure that everything you write about is accurate, and we can’t be held accountable for mistakes that you make, so please make sure to do a good job in your editing!

You are given the option to share your opinion on this site, but if you post things that are not nice, such as personal attacks, harsh language or just things that are mean, we have the right to delete them immediately.

Please do not post content on this site that you did not write. You are responsible to only post things that you have written. If you decide to use someone else’s work in your own, make sure that you have permission to post it on the site and credit it appropriately.

Links to external resources

The Agora Web Site may be linked to other web sites that are not under UNICEF's control. UNICEF provides these links merely as a convenience and the inclusion of such links does not imply an endorsement or approval by UNICEF of any web site, product or service. UNICEF does not assume any responsibility or liability in respect of such web sites, including, for example, responsibility or liability for the accuracy or reliability of any information, data, opinions, advice or statements made on those web sites.

Virus protection

While the Agora project team makes efforts to test the site and its content, we encourage you to run an anti-virus program on your device, especially when downloading materials or opening email communications.

Use of the Web Site by minors

The use of this Web Site by minors is subject to the consent of their parent or guardian. We advise parents or guardians who permit their children to use this Web Site that it is important that they communicate with their children about their safety online. Minors who are using this Web Site should be made aware of the potential risks to them and of their obligation to comply with the Terms of Use when using this Web Site.

We will do our best to assess any possible risks to minors from third parties when they use this Web Site and we will decide in each case whether it is appropriate to use moderation of the relevant service (including what kind of moderation to use) in light of those risks.  

For minors under 14, the email address used for registration must be that of their parent or guardian.

Intellectual property rights

This Web Site contains material which is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited other than in accordance with the copyright notice, which forms part of these terms and conditions.

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, or any page(s) from the Web Site for your personal use and where applicable you may draw the attention of others within your Institution to content posted on the Web Site.

You may not transfer the materials to another person or "mirror" the materials on any other server.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text. Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on the Web Site must always be acknowledged.

You must not use any part of the content on the Web Site or Online Product for commercial purposes without obtaining a license to do so from us.

Upon terminating your viewing of these materials or upon the termination of this license, you must destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether in electronic or printed format.

The UNICEF name and emblem are the exclusive property of UNICEF. They are protected under international law. Unauthorized use is prohibited. They may not be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of UNICEF.

Disclaimer

The United Nations and UNICEF disclaim any liability or responsibility arising from the use of the Agora Web Site or the Content of the UNICEF Web Site. The United Nations, UNICEF, members of their staff, and their contractors, shall not be liable for any financial or other consequences whatsoever arising from the use of the Content of the UNICEF Web Site, including the inappropriate, improper, or fraudulent use of such Content.

We do not warrant that the functions contained in the material contained in this site will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or represent the full functionality, accuracy, reliability of the materials.

No representations or warranties of any kind concerning the UNICEF Web Site are given, including responsibility for any infection by virus or any other contamination or by anything which has destructive properties. You agree that you are solely responsible for any issues that you may encounter that result from your use of this site. Under no circumstances can UNICEF be held responsible for any damages or injuries you may have related to your use of this site.

You agree to indemnify, at your own expense, UNICEF, its officials, employees, consultants and agents, against any claims, including your costs and expenses, by any third party, resulting from your use of this site.

The mention of names of specific companies or products on this site does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be interpreted as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of UNICEF.

The use of particular designations of countries or territories or maps on this site does not reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. 

 

Privacy policy

Taking care of your information is important to us.  This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, use and store your personal information and what steps we take to protect your information.

We remind you not to share publicly information that could help others to identify you on any of our sites. This includes personal information such as your name, physical address or place of residence, school name or address, phone number, email address and social media account details. Any personal information you post publicly can be viewed by others. We are not responsible for what others might do with such information, so please remember to be careful with what you post. If you post information of this kind on our site, we will remove it. If you see that someone else has done so, please contact the Agora team at agora@unicef.org immediately so that we can remove the content.

What personal information is stored on Agora?

Through the registration process (which is automated for UNICEF employees), some information related to the profile of the learner may be captured, such as organization, location, position, gender, manager’s position or contract type. For UNICEF staff, these details are populated automatically.

We encourage guests users to register with their real name as it will be used to issue your personalized certificates of completion.

For communication purposes (e.g. updates or key notifications) and provide services such as “password reset” options, learners are also required to provide an email address, that is being verified.

Additional data such as interests, profile picture, or additional contact details or social profiles can optionally be added by learners on their profile. All of these details are optional.

Please be aware that discussion or contributions made through the site, for example through chat sessions or discussion forums, may be stored on the site (and visible by other users). Agora also hosts your personal learning record, where your activities and achievements are saved.

If you contact us directly, we may receive additional information about you. For example, when you contact our Agora team, we may receive your name, email address, phone number, the contents of a message or attachments that you may send to us, and other information you choose to provide. We remind you to never communicate your password by email, even with the Agora team or another UNICEF staff member.

We may collect information from you when you participate in awards, contest, surveys, petitions, pledges, or events posted on the site or when you sign up for our newsletters.

 

What use is made of personal data?

First, personal information can help us determine appropriate access rights. For example a UNICEF staff member, a partner and a general public user would have access to different courses and features. Personal interests, location and/or position may also be used to recommend learning opportunities that are relevant to a learner’s context, preferences and needs. This information can also be useful for learners to establish contact with one another. It also helps trainers and tutors understand better the profile of the learners they are supporting.

We also use this data for statistical purposes, to better understand usage and improve services on Agora. Your learning activity and learning records can be viewed by your line manager(s), system administrators and course tutors or facilitators, unless you decide to make this information available to other users.

We may de-identify (i.e. anonymize) and aggregate information collected through the site for statistical analysis and other lawful purpose, including in research studies. The results of this research may be shared with third parties, such as our partners, supporters, educators and researchers through conferences, journals, and other publications.

We may send emails to the email address you provide to us for user-service or technical-support purposes, to send you information about topics or content that we think may interest you, or updates about the latest developments, engagement opportunities, news, surveys, petitions, volunteer opportunities, awards, contests, events or new features on the site. We may also send a newsletter to the email address you provide to us if you subscribe to receive our newsletter. 

We may use your Personal Information to enforce our Terms of Use, to defend our legal rights, and to comply with our legal obligations and internal policies.

Does Agora use cookies?

Logging into Agora sets a cookie on the Internet browser of the computer used to access the Web Site. Cookies are small amount of data used to assign a unique identification to your computer and securely store information such as user IDs, passwords, preferences, and online profiles.  It is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Note that, to protect your privacy, your browser only allows a web site to access the cookies it has already sent you, not the cookies sent by other sites.  

By using this site, you consent to the placement of cookies and similar technologies in your browser in accordance with this Privacy Policy. The information collected in this manner includes your IP address, network location, what browser you are using, device IDs and characteristics, operating system version, language preferences, referring URLs, and information about the usage of our site.

We use this information, for example, to ensure that the site functions properly, to determine how many users have visited certain pages, or to prevent fraud. We use IP address information to derive your approximate location. We also work with analytics providers, such as Google Analytics which use cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about use of the site and report on activities and trends.

In order to use Agora, you will need to ensure that your browser is configured to accept cookies from the site. You can delete cookies after each visit, if you wish to. 

We reserve the right to modify this policy at any time.

Should you have questions or concerns related to privacy and use of personal data on Agora, please feel free to contact us at agora@unicef.org

 

When and how is your personal information shared?

We disclose information that we collect through the site to third parties in the following circumstances:

·         To third-party service providers who provide services to us, such as website hosting, data analysis, information technology and related infrastructure provisions and analytics providers.

·         To individual owners of courses offered on Agora, interesting in knowing more about the use of the courses they developed (e.g. number of enrolment, profile of users, their location,…). Most of the time this data will be aggregated and anonymized.  

·         To human resources representatives of selected organizations encouraging their staff members to complete certain courses on Agora.

·         We may, at our own discretion, disclose your Personal Information in order to fulfill a legal requirement, enforce our Terms of Use, or protect anyone’s rights, privacy, safety, or property and for other lawful purposes.

We will only transfer your Personal Information to trusted third parties who provide sufficient guarantees in respect of the technical and organisational security measures governing the processing to be carried out and who can demonstrate a commitment to compliance with those measures. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your Personal Information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your Personal Information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Some of the third parties mentioned in this Privacy Policy may be located in countries outside your country of residence. Where we transfer your Personal Information outside of your country, we take steps to ensure that your information is treated securely. You agree to us handling your information in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy and that the obligations imposed by privacy laws in other countries may be less stringent than the requirements established by the privacy laws in your country.  Where we transfer your information internationally we will take reasonable steps to ensure that your information is treated securely and the means of transfer provides adequate safeguards.

How can I control my information?

Guest users can edit most of their profile details at any time. UNICEF staff and consultants can only edit selected fields.
You can request deletion of your account by writing to agora@unicef.org

Please note that deleting your account hides all information from public view but does not remove all of your information from our servers. If you want to have all of your information removed from our servers, let us know and we will work with developers to do so.

Note that most forum posts can only be edited within a limited timeframe. If you wish to see a post deleted after that, please contact us at agora@unicef.org  with the URL of the forum page and details of the post.

Please note that we have no control over reposts of your content on other sites. Therefore, if we delete your information from our servers it does not mean that your information will be deleted from the Internet.

You can delete cookies at any time – we however encourage you to not do so in the middle of a session to avoid issues with course progress or completion tracking. Deleting Agora cookies will terminate your session and you will need to authenticate again to continue using the site.

 

How long is my personal information kept?

We will only use and store information for so long as it is required for the purposes it was collected for and as specified in UNICEF’s retention policy. We use your Personal Information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements and rights, or if it is not technically and reasonably feasible to remove it. We also retain the right to store your Personal Information with parties outside of UNICEF’s direct control, such as with the servers or databases of a third-party organisation. Otherwise, we will seek to delete your Personal Information within a reasonable timeframe upon your request.

 

Is the Agora website secured?

The Agora project team is committed to protect your personal data through the implementation of encryption methods, secured login, firewalls, regular security patches and antivirus. Unfortunately such precautions may not be sufficient to guarantee a complete security of data. Should you have reasons to question the integrity of the site or your data, please do promptly contact us at agora@unicef.org. 

What about links to third party sites referenced or embedded in Agora?

Our Web Site contains links to other websites that are not covered by this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy applies only to the processing of your Personal Information. It does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site or service to which the site links. The inclusion of a link on this site does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by UNICEF. Please be aware that the terms of this Privacy Policy do not apply to these outside websites or content, or to any collection of data after you click on links to such outside websites.

Notifications of Changes to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy

We review our terms of use, security measures and our Privacy Policy and we may modify our policies as we deem appropriate. If we make changes to our privacy practices, you will be notified upon your next login and asked to review and confirm your acceptance of the new terms. 

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this site please contact us at agora@unicef.org