Participating as a PeerConnect Community Member (“Terms of Participation”)

Your membership to a PeerConnect Community is governed by the following Terms of Participation (hereinafter referred to in this document as the “Terms”). You hereby agree that to become a member of any PeerConnect Community you have read, understood and agreed to comply with these Terms.

As a PeerConnect Community Member, you are also subject to the Terms of Service of the underlying software applications of the different PeerConnect Services specified in clause 2.1 below, as well as to the complete provisions of the Terms of Use for accessing PeerConnect’s websites and public material, including the privacy policy stipulated therein. These Terms of Participation are in addition to the aforesaid Terms and should be read and understood as such.

Membership to any PeerConnect Community is available only to individuals and not to organizations.

1. Introduction
   1. PeerConnect is an initiative of PeerConnect Knowledge Solutions LLP, a Limited Liability Partnership registered in New Delhi India (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”).  The Company offers its Client Entities a suite of Services comprised of online software platforms they can install and run, together with PeerConnect business processes, to create and build vibrant affinity groups (“Communities”) of professionals with a common profession or programme goal to facilitate exchange of information and knowledge and generate familiarity and trust, for the purpose of increasing individual effectiveness and collective influence.
   2. The Company’s Client Entities are those organizations, agencies, associations or other legally recognized entities which have entered into a legally binding agreement to accept the Terms of Engagement with the Company to install some or all of PeerConnect’s suite of Services and to apply PeerConnect’s systems and business processes in accordance with the terms and conditions specified therein.
   3. Client Entities appoint or engage Community Facilitators to manage their PeerConnect Websites and Services. Community Facilitators have full administration rights and permissions for their PeerConnect installations; they also moderate their Community’s interactive forums and carry out other work relating to Community activities and Member relations.   Company staff (PeerConnect Administrators) have full administration rights for and oversee operations of all PeerConnect Communities.
   4. Full access to PeerConnect’s Services is available only to professionals subscribed to one or more participating Communities (referred to as “Members”), gaining access through a username and password.  PeerConnect and its Client Entities also allow access to visitors from the general public to view and use content from non-restricted pages of its websites and PeerConnect’s “Collect” Document Repository.  All visitors to these public sites, both non-members and members, are subject to a separate agreement, Terms of Use, spelling out their rights and obligations when accessing the sites and utilizing their contents.The UN Advocacy Community’s Participation Guidelines, Terms of Use and Terms of Participation are adapted from PeerConnect, a software package of applications developed by PeerConnect Knowledge Solutions LLP, for building impactful professional Communities. The PeerConnect Process draws from the highly successful Solution Exchange peer-to-peer knowledge networking model created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and implemented by the UN Country Team in India and several other UN agency country offices over 2005-2010. PeerConnect has updated the model by introducing a multi-platform roadmap to generate familiarity and trust across the range of member viewpoints.
      The UN Advocacy Community’s operating method has been developed by PeerConnect Knowledge Solutions, applying the PeerConnect Process to enhance member effectiveness and collective impact. For further information about the PeerConnect Process, or to inquire into creating a PeerConnect Community, visit www.peerconnect.solutions or contact Steve Glovinsky at steve@peerconnect.solutions.
2. Registration and Conditions of Membership
   1. You are required to comply with these Terms if you are registered – subscribed to and been accepted – as a Member of a PeerConnect Community and are thereby entitled to participate in PeerConnect’s forums, namely its “Share”, “Consult”, “Collaborate” and “Engage” Services, and to upload content in its “Collect” Document Repository.
   2. Upon being registered in a PeerConnect Community, you will be requested to provide a user ID and a password to create a User Account, which gives you access to the restricted areas of a PeerConnect Website and to the Services available to your Community. You agree not to share your password with anyone and to take reasonable care to protect your password from unauthorized disclosure. You also agree to promptly notify the Company at pc-help@peerconnect.solutions of any known, suspected, or anticipated compromise of your user ID and/or password that may lead or have already led to its unauthorized use.
   3. The information supplied by you in connection with your registration is subject to PeerConnect’s privacy policy (see Terms of Use, Section 4).  Information about you that will be shown on your Community’s public website is your headshot (if available), name, organization, and location (city and state or country). Members wishing not to reveal their name can opt out by checking the appropriate box in the signup form.  However, unless you contribute a message as an “anonymous” contributor, your name, along with your organization and location, will be included in the synthesized and summarized threads (“Consolidated Replies”) of queries you post or reply to in the Consult Service, which can be accessed by the general public in the Collect Document Repository.
   4. Joining a PeerConnect Community is acknowledged as a voluntary action on your part.  In this connection, be aware that some organizations restrict active participation in professional knowledge-sharing sites, considering knowledge gained on the job as proprietary or subject to Non-Disclosure Agreements. In the event that you are employed by an organization, therefore, you hereby warrant that you are authorized under the terms of your employment or contract to participate in Community conversations should you choose to do so.
3. Member Rights and Obligations
   1. You are obligated to accept the Membership Agreement as a condition for participating in a PeerConnect Community. This agreement, attached as Annex 1, includes seven Rules of Participation that all Members must adhere to in order to ensure that all contributions to PeerConnect’s interactive forums are positive, constructive, and offered in the spirit of cooperation.  
   2. You are also invited to familiarize yourself with the Participation Guidelines for PeerConnect’s interactive forums, attached as Annex 2, for maximizing the quality of and benefits from your experience.
   3. Except as specified in Section 4 below, only Members shall be entitled to avail of PeerConnect’s Services, in the manner specified as follows: 
      • • Post and respond to news, views and information intended for sharing with the Community on the “Share” Service forum, through the interactive messaging application and as announcements, opinion pieces and other material uploaded or presented in text, graphic, podcast or videoconferencing formats 
        • Post and respond to Member queries intended for consultation with the Community on the “Consult” Service forum, through the interactive email group application
        • Participate with other members for collaborative product development on the “Collaborate” Service platform, containing tools and resources to facilitate work on team-based assignments (“Action Groups”)
        • Submit to PeerConnect Administrators tools, technologies, systems and processes for uploading on the “Engage” Service portal, offering applications to be used for target-based interventions, and download these applications for your use, respecting their intellectual property rights.
        • Submit to Community Facilitators member-recommended resources or Community-generated products for uploading on the “Collect” Document Repository, offering access by Community members and the general public to indexed documents and other knowledge assets.
   4. Community Facilitators shall review and consider all member-contributed messages and material intended for the Share and Consult Services prior to approving and posting them to the entire Community through the Community’s group email or online address, or prior to uploading member-contributed material to the Collect Document Repository.  Member-contributed products intended for the Engage Service portal shall first be reviewed and considered by PeerConnect Administrators prior to their approval and uploading. Community Facilitators and PeerConnect Administrators shall exercise their absolute discretion in approving and sending or uploading, revising or editing, or rejecting member contributions to the relevant platform.
   5. Community Facilitators also reserve the absolute right of editorial discretion in the creation of a Consolidated Reply – a compilation of responses to a member query, along with a summary, on the Consult Service forum, which shall then be posted to the Community’s email group and uploaded to the Collect Document Repository, where it is available for viewing by visitors to PeerConnect public websites.
   6. By posting or submitting material for posting to the Community, you expressly understand and agree that you are solely responsible for its content. You represent that you have all necessary rights in and to such material and that such material will not infringe on any personal or proprietary rights of any third parties. You hereby agree to authorize the right to view, use, and distribute such material in any manner and in any medium, in perpetuity and as per Section 5 of these Terms.  
   7. The Company or its Client Entities reserve the right to remove any content from the site at any time, for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such content, or if they are concerned that a member may have breached the immediately preceding sentence).
   8. As a Community Member you can, at your absolute discretion and without explanation, cancel your membership and leave the Community by simply requesting a Community Facilitator to unsubscribe you from the Community’s email mail group.
4. Non-Member Participation
   1. Persons not registered with a PeerConnect Community – non-Members – are allowed and welcome to participate in the following activities according to the protocols specified:
5. 1. 1. When a Member of a different PeerConnect Community requests and is invited to join in responding to a Consult Service query posed on this Community, or to participate in an Action Group under this Community’s Collaborate Service.
         • A Facilitator of a PeerConnect Community can authorize “Opt-in” rights to Members of other PeerConnect Communities for specific queries or Action Groups, which expire on completion of the activity. Since the external member will be familiar with the Terms of Participation and has accepted a PeerConnect “Member Agreement,” no additional protocols are necessary.
      2. When a non-Member of any PeerConnect Community offers or agrees to a request from the Facilitator to respond to a Consult Service query.
         • The Facilitator can post the non-Member’s response to the Community, following the prescribed process and format, and designate it as an “Offline Contribution,” indicating that the contributor is not currently a Community Member.
      3. When a non-Member of any PeerConnect Community is invited to and agrees to participate in a Collaborate Service product development team (“Action Group”)
         • The non-Member will be required to join the Community as a Member and accept the Membership Agreement, providing them with all the rights and obligations of a full Community Member (including the right to unsubscribe at any time.)
      4. When a non-Member participates in an online or face-to-face event offered under the auspices of the Share Service.
         • No particular protocol is necessary for anyone from the general public to participate, other than for attendees to either be invited by a Community Facilitator or to register in advance through a form that includes information designed to validate the applicant’s positive intent.

     5. Creative Commons Copyright

1. 1. In keeping with the spirit of voluntary knowledge and information exchange, all material – e.g. knowledge products, documentary resources and information – posted to a PeerConnect website or interactive forum, except as otherwise specified in Section 6 below, shall be governed by the terms and conditions laid out in PeerConnect’s Creative Commons copyright “Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike” (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 international license.  This Creative Commons license grants all users the right to use, distribute, modify and redistribute the material available with PeerConnect, for non-commercial purposes, and provided that adequate credit is given to both PeerConnect and, if relevant, the author of the contribution.  (The citation to be applied in this instance is “Source: [contributor], in [document; message (with weblink)], [Community], PeerConnect Knowledge Services, New Delhi; [date].  Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 international license.”)  You are also allowed to adapt and build on the contributed work, provided that you license your new creation under the identical terms, and all new works based on yours carry the same license.  As a PeerConnect Community Member, your participation in and/or use of a PeerConnect site and its Services shall imply that you have read and agreed to be bound by this Creative Commons license in relation to any material, knowledge or information posted or otherwise contributed by you or by another Community Member.
   2. In accordance with PeerConnect’s Creative Commons license, in the event that the Company or its Client Entities use any material, knowledge or information contributed by any Member it shall provide adequate credit to the Member.  The Community’s Client Entity, whose Facilitators have invested a lot of skill and judgment and value in creating the Consolidated Reply, shall be the owner of the Consolidated Reply.  In the event, therefore, that any Member uses or distributes any Consolidated Reply in its totality, it shall provide the Community full credit in the manner prescribed, and must share any derivative work with the Community.
   3. Attachments or links to supplementary material posted to a PeerConnect interactive forum by a Member shall retain their proprietary licensing regime, except in the event this material is stored on a PeerConnect server.  If it is, the member explicitly accepts that the uploaded and stored material is licensed under the terms and conditions of PeerConnect’s Creative Commons license.  
   4. It shall be the duty and obligation of every Member posting a message, announcement, blog post, podcast or other intellectual property on a Share Service forum, contributing to a Consult Service Consolidated Reply, a Collaborate Service product or an Engage Service process or application, to read and understand PeerConnect’s Creative Commons license.  In the event that you have a doubt about the terms and conditions laid down by PeerConnect’s Creative Commons license it shall be your duty to seek a legal opinion or clarification about same.  More information about Creative Commons copyright licensing can be found on their website creativecommons.org.  
   5. All the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license shall be construed as being supplemental to this agreement and shall be interpreted harmoniously with this agreement.
   6. Prohibition on Use for Artificial Intelligence Training Notwithstanding any other provision of these Terms or the Creative Commons license applied herein, no content posted to or accessible through any PeerConnect Website, interactive forum, or the Collect Document Repository — including but not limited to member contributions, Consolidated Replies, query threads, discussion posts, and Community-generated knowledge products — may be used, copied, scraped, crawled, harvested, or otherwise processed for the purpose of training, fine-tuning, evaluating, or otherwise developing artificial intelligence, machine learning, large language models, or similar automated systems, without the prior express written consent of PeerConnect Knowledge Solutions LLP. This prohibition applies regardless of whether such content is publicly accessible and regardless of whether the intended use is commercial or non-commercial. Any use of PeerConnect content for AI training purposes without such written consent constitutes a material breach of these Terms and an infringement of PeerConnect’s intellectual property rights. This restriction is in addition to, and does not limit, the protections afforded by the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License applied to PeerConnect content. 

     6. Other Intellectual Property Rights

1. Certain aspects of the PeerConnect websites and services that may be subject to proprietary ownership, including the Query-Consolidated Reply process, online learning modules that are intended for professional development, the data model behind PeerConnect’s operating systems and processes, the taxonomy applied to the Collect Document Repository indexing system, and similar items, maintain an “All Rights Reserved” copyright protection as the exclusive property of the Company.  All similarly protected material will be clearly marked as such.
2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event there are any commercially viable products produced by Community Members and non-Members participating in Action Groups using the Collaborate Service, the Company shall use commercially reasonable endeavours to execute a legally binding agreement establishing suitable compensation on behalf of the Community and the members of the Action Groups, on a case-to-case basis on mutual consent.  Specifically, in cases where an organization or other entity wishes to utilize the Community’s Collaborate Service to sponsor an Action Group for developing a commercially viable product for which they intend to apply a patent, the Company shall be granted a royalty free, perpetual, worldwide license to such patent with rights to work or use the patent or the Services set forth herein, provided however that the Company shall disclaim all proprietary rights in any derivatives created from such patent. 
3. You hereby represent that you shall not post any idea for which you intend to seek a patent.  You warrant that you are aware that in the event that you do post any such idea, it may be construed as prior publication for the purpose of patent law, thereby affecting your chances of being granted a patent.

      7. Restrictions

1. As a Community Member, you agree to the application of the Restrictions specified in Section 5 of the Terms of Use that refer to the use of any PeerConnect Websites or the Repository, to also refer your use of PeerConnect’s Services.
2. You further agree not to
   1. Include in your profile information that is inaccurate, misleading or misrepresentational
   2. Allow any other person to use your user ID and password to access the restricted areas of the PeerConnect Website and Services
   3. Copy or otherwise obtain Community Member information, including member contact information, with the intent to use or sell it for solicitation purposes such as telemarketing or product advertising
3. You may not post or attempt to post any content that is unlawful, offensive, upsetting, intending to disgust, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable. Examples of such objectionable content include, but are not limited to, the following:
   • Unlawful or promoting unlawful activity or allowing any illegal activity to be carried out from your account.
   • Defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content, including derogatory references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups.
   • Child pornography, content that facilitates human trafficking or harassment, terrorist content, or other content that could harm our users, third parties, or the Company and its Client Entities.
   • Spam, machine – or randomly – generated content, constituting unauthorized or unsolicited advertising, chain letters, any other form of unauthorized solicitation, or any form of lottery or gambling.
   • Containing or installing any viruses, worms, malware, trojan horses, or other content that is designed or intended to disrupt, damage, or limit the functioning of any software, hardware or telecommunications equipment or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any data or other information of a third person.
   • Infringing on any proprietary rights of any party, including patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity or other rights.
   • Impersonating any person or entity including the Company and its employees or representatives.
   • Violating the privacy of any third person.
   • False information and features deliberately intended to deceive.
4. The Company’s Client Entities reserve the right, but not the obligation, at their sole discretion, to determine whether or not any content is appropriate and complies with these Terms, and to refuse or remove this content. The Company’s Client Entities further reserve the right to make formatting and other edits and change the manner of any content. The Company’s Client Entities can also limit or revoke the use of the Service if you submit for posting or post such objectionable content.
5. As a Community Member, you should refrain in your representations to the media or elsewhere from implying that their membership in a PeerConnect Community allows you to speak with authority.  PeerConnect is a neutral platform in this respect, and does not confer any special authority to its Communities’ Members

      8. Suspension and Termination

1. The Company or its Client Entities reserve the right to exercise increasing levels of oversight and limitations on your participation, up to and including suspending your participation in any or all of the PeerConnect Services for a specified period, depending on the severity of an infraction of any of the restrictions in Section 7 and other Terms of Participation you agreed to comply with, including the rules of participation enumerated in the Member Agreement.  Determination of the level of the penalty is at the discretion of the Company’s Client Entities or the Company itself.  
2. In the event of a severe material breach or threatened material breach of the restrictions in Section 7 and other Terms of Participation you agreed to comply with, the Company or its Client Entities shall have the right to terminate your membership in the Community, and to blacklist your current or future participation in any PeerConnect Communities.
3. The Company or its Client Entities may cancel/suspend/disable your account, user ID and password at their sole discretion without notice or explanation.  However, in exercising the suspension or termination of your Community membership, the Company or its Client Entities have a right but not an obligation to provide you with due notice of the action taken or intended to be taken, including the rationale.

     9. Disclaimer of Warranties and Liability

1. You understand and agree that the Company and its Client Entities provide the PeerConnect Services on an as-is basis, with all faults and as available, and that your participation as a Community Member and your use of PeerConnect Services is at your risk. All warranties for the title and non-infringement are disclaimed and excluded. 
2. The views and opinions contributed by Members for posting in its Share and Consult forums do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Company or its Client Entities.
3. The Company or its Client Entities are not responsible for content provided by Community Members. You understand that by using PeerConnect Services you may be exposed to content that you may find offensive, objectionable, or incorrect. You agree that under no circumstances will the Company or its Client Entities be liable in any way for any content, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of your use of any content.  
4. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made by the Company and its Client Entities for content in PeerConnect Websites and Services with respect to the following:
   • the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability to a particular situation; 
   • that the quality will meet your expectations or requirements; 
   • that any errors or omissions will be corrected; 
   • warranties against infringement of any third-party intellectual property or proprietary rights; or 
   • warranties relating to performance, non-performance, or other acts or omissions of the officers, directors, employees, affiliates, agents, licensors, or suppliers of the Company and its Client Entities.
5. As a PeerConnect Member, you warrant that you have all the necessary skill and judgment required to understand the knowledge and information available on the Community’s website and Services or posted to them.  You acknowledge that use of this knowledge, information and material requires you to use your own judgement, and that you shall be solely liable for all decision, opinions, recommendations, forecasts or comments made or any action taken in reliance on such knowledge and information.
6. Community Facilitators engaged by the Company’s Client Entities exercise care that messages posted do not contain potentially offensive or slanderous comments, plagiarized content, or proprietary publications unauthorized for dissemination.  The cautions notwithstanding, these staff, the Client Entities they represent, or the Company can neither warrant against nor be made liable for any cases where this contravened content or material appears in postings by Members to the Share and Consult services, including the content of Consolidated Replies or other products and resources published to the Community’s group forums and uploaded to the Collect Document Repository.
7. You expressly understand and agree that you are solely responsible for the content you submit for posting to the Community and for all other for all activity carried out from your account. Furthermore, you agree that you would be solely liable in the event of any illegal activity being carried out from your account, as well as for any loss/damage arising from such activity.
8. The Company does not warrant that any of the software used and or licensed in connection with PeerConnect Services will be compatible with other third-party software or devices, nor does it warrant that operation of these Services and the associated software will not damage or disrupt other software or hardware. 
9. The Company employs the latest and best technologies to protect user information.  However, it is not in a position to assume responsibility for the security of this information.
10. The Company or its Client Entities can not assure that access to PeerConnect Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, nor can they be responsible for any delay in transmission due to any technical issues at the end of the users of these Services.
11. The Company, its Client Entities, affiliates, successors, and assigns, and each of their respective funders, directors, officers, employees, agents, and suppliers (including distributors and content licensors) shall not be liable, at any time for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special or consequential damages arising out of or in any way connected with the use of PeerConnect Services, whether based on contract, tort, strict liability, or other theory. 
12. The Company and its Client Entities reserve the right to change, suspend, or discontinue temporarily or permanently, some or all of the features or content in its PeerConnect Services (including the devices through which these are accessed), with respect to any or all users, at any time without notice. You acknowledge that the Company and Client Entities may do so at their sole discretion. You also agree that the Company and Client Entities will not be liable to you for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of said features or content.
13. The Company and its Client Entities are not responsible for the content or practices of any external website even if it links to a PeerConnect Service’s Website or content and even if the website is operated by a company affiliated or otherwise connected with the Company or a Client Entity. You acknowledge and agree that the Company and its Client Entities are not responsible or liable to you for any content or other materials hosted and served from any website other than their Websites.
14. The Company or its Client Entities reserve the right to disclose any information that is required to be shared, disclosed or made available to any governmental, administrative, regulatory or judicial authority under any law or regulation applicable to the Company or the relevant Client Entity. The Company or Client Entity can further disclose the name of the Community Member or any other details, as it, in its sole discretion, believes necessary or appropriate in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringement, piracy, or other unlawful activity.
15. In the event you reside in a jurisdiction which does not allow the exclusion of certain types of warranties or limitations on applicable statutory rights of a consumer, then some or all of the above exclusions and limitations may not apply to you. However, in such a case the exclusions and limitations set forth in this section shall be applied to the greatest extent enforceable under applicable law.
16. The Company and its Client Entities claim no ownership interest in any third-party content and expressly disclaims any liability concerning those materials.
17. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY OR ITS CLIENT ENTITIES BE LIABLE HEREUNDER FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED AND UNDER ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHER THEORY OF LIABILITY.  THIS MUTUAL WAIVER AND RELEASE OF INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES APPLIES ONLY TO SUCH DAMAGE CLAIMS ASSERTED BY AND BETWEEN THE PARTIES AND DOES NOT APPLY TO CLAIMS ASSERTED AGAINST A PARTY BY A PERSON OR ENTITY THAT IS NOT A PARTY.

     10. Indemnification

1. 1. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless, the Company, its Client Entities, affiliates, successors, and assigns, and each of their respective funders, directors, officers, employees, agents, and suppliers (including distributors and content licensors) from and against any losses, claims, damages, liabilities, including legal fees and expenses arising out of any claim, due to or arising out of your violation of these Terms, including but not limited to:
      • a claim arising out of a breach of your representations or warranties made hereunder; 
      • your use or misuse of or access to any PeerConnect Services 
      • your violation of any law, regulation or third-party right, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right; or 
      • any claim that you have caused damage to a third party.
   2. The Company and its Client Entities reserve the right, at their own expense, to employ separate counsel and assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, and you agree to cooperate with the Company´s or Client Entities’ defence of these claims.
   3. Any and all services provided to you would be based upon the information provided by you on your Profile page and otherwise.  In case any information that should have been revealed is not revealed and/or is concealed whether purposefully or not, and such non-disclosure or partial disclosure of information causes any loss or damage either to you or to PeerConnect Services, then in such a scenario the Company and its Client Entities would not be liable to indemnify you; however, you would be liable to indemnify the Company and its Client Entities for any such loss.

      11. General Terms

1. Relationship 
   • None of the provisions of the Terms shall be deemed to constitute a partnership or agency between you and the Company or its Client Entities and you shall have no authority to bind the Company or its Client Entities in any manner, whatsoever. This agreement is solely for the benefit of yourself and the Company and its Client Entities, and not for the benefit of any other person, except for permitted successors and assigns under this Agreement, unless the contrary is stated.
2. Assignment 
   • You may not transfer to anyone else, either temporarily or permanently, any rights to use the restricted parts of PeerConnect’s Websites or Services. Any attempt by you to do so is void. The Company or its Client Entities may assign, transfer, delegate and/or grant all or any part of its rights, privileges and properties hereunder to any person or entity.
3. Force Majeure
   • Neither the Company and its Client Entities nor you shall have any liability for any interruption or delay, to access PeerConnect Websites and Services due to a Force Majeure Event. For the purposes of this clause, “Force Majeure Event” means any event or circumstance or combination of events and circumstances which is reasonably beyond the control of the person affected thereby and which causes or results in default or delay in performance by such affected person of any of its obligations under this agreement and includes but is not limited to an act of God, closure due to epidemics and / or pandemics, war, hostilities, civil commotion, strikes, lockouts and other industrial disputes.
4. Applicable Law
   • With respect to the Company, these Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India without giving effect to principles of conflict of law. In the event of any dispute or claim by you against the Company, you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of courts at Delhi.  With respect to the Company’s Client Entities, these Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the country or jurisdiction, and for any dispute or claim you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the relevant court. 
5. Survival
   • Rights and obligations under the Terms which by their nature should survive will remain in full effect after termination or expiration of your membership in a PeerConnect Community.
6. Non-Waiver
   • Any express waiver or failure to exercise promptly any right under this agreement will not create a continuing waiver or any expectation of non-enforcement.
7. Entire Agreement
   • These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and the Company and its Client Entities with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter.

      12. Acceptance of Terms of Participation

1. These Terms apply in full force to and govern your use of this and all other PeerConnect Websites and Services.    
2. YOUR REGISTRATION IN A PEERCONNECT COMMUNITY SHALL MEAN THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS IN FULL.  If you do not agree to these Terms in full, you are not authorized to register in a PeerConnect Community and access these Websites and Services.
3. The Company reserves the right, at its discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of these Terms at any time by posting the amended Terms. It is your responsibility to regularly review these Terms and to acquaint yourself with any changes.  Your continued use of PeerConnect Websites and Services after the posting of changes constitutes your binding acceptance of such changes. 
   

Terms of Participation as a PeerConnect Community Member

ANNEX 1: THE MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT

PeerConnect’s Seven Rules of Participation

Joining a PeerConnect Community is free, voluntary and open to anyone interested in sharing news, views and information with your colleagues through the “Share” Forum, in contributing advice, experience and expertise for use by others through the “Consult” forum, or for adapting others’ advice, experience and expertise for their own use.  

In becoming a member of a PeerConnnect Community and interacting with colleagues over the Share and Consult forums, you hereby agree to follow these seven basic Rules of Participation:

1. PeerConnect Communities are networks of professional peers and not of organizations. Messages posted to a forum represent the personal contributions of the members and not the positions of the organizations they are employed by. 
2. Messages from members are primarily for the purpose of sharing information, advice, experience and expertise relating to a Community’s professional domain or programme they are collectively engaged in.  A PeerConnect online forum should not be used to promote or advocate views, opinions or political positions unrelated to the issues addressed by the Community. Dialogue and debate on these subjects can be done more effectively through the other discussion forums available.
3. Messages should be provided in a positive and constructive manner.  Contributions intended to intentionally defame or discredit the views of another individual or group are not allowed. 
4. Postings to the Share and Consult forums are subject to PeerConnect’s Creative Commons 4.0 International license (“Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike””) and are freely available for others to cite or use as they choose, provided that members acknowledge the original contributor. Attachments or citations offered with these postings retain the permissions associated with the material unless they are archived on the server of the “Collect” Document Repository, where they acquire the rights associated with PeerConnect’s Creative Commons license (see the Terms of Participation for more information about PeerConnect’s licensing regime). 
5. To ensure adherence to the above rules, messages sent to the Share online forum or the Consult email group go first to the Community moderator (the “Facilitator”), who is responsible for reviewing and approving messages to be posted. In carrying out these functions, the Facilitator reserves the right to edit and/or withhold messages that are found not to be appropriate for posting. Before a message is withheld or heavily edited, the Facilitator will notify and/or consult with the sender. 
6. In posting edited and unedited messages or incorporating these messages into synthesized responses (“Consolidated Replies”), PeerConnect accepts no responsibility for their veracity or authenticity.   Members intending to use or transmit the knowledge or information contained in these messages should be aware that they are relying on their own judgment. 
7. Members also agree to adhere to the legal rights associated with using PeerConnect’s interactive forums and websites. Legal terms and conditions governing the use of these forums, the websites and the material contained therein are spelled out in the Terms of Use for accessing the PeerConnect website and the Terms of Participation as a PeerConnect Community member, which presents how the knowledge, information and material you provide are treated.

Terms of Participation as a PeerConnect Community Member

ANNEX 2: PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES

To ensure that your membership in a PeerConnect Community is a positive and beneficial experience, we have included some basic guidelines for effective participation in the Share and Consult interactive forums.

What To Expect
PeerConnect applies the “PeerConnect Process” for organizing voluntary social networks (Share) and email groups (Consult) for professionals within a professional domain (a “Community of Practice”) or with common interests (a “Community of Interest”).  They are designed to enable Community members to share useful information and knowledge, and to learn from each other in a spirit of cooperation.  As a member of a PeerConnect Community, you join your professional colleagues from government, civil society, foundations and donors, academia and the private sector who are interested in hearing from you and who know that you are interested in hearing from them.  You are joining a group whose members value your contributions, whether you are an expert, a practitioner or someone impacted by the issues you are addressing.

Importantly, the Consult forum is dedicated to “knowledge-sharing” – what you know – and not “opinion-sharing” – what you believe.  Most social networking sites focus on the latter; it is why Consult stands out as a go-to forum for learning from your peers.  It is email-based to allow for long format messages, while the Share social network uses quick-response, short format messages for exchanging news, views and information, in order to expand opportunities for members to interact informally and build familiarity and trust.  (Opinions – “views” – are allowed in this space, but as well-argued, well-supported positions presented in blog post format.)

The Facilitation Team  

When you join a Community you are welcomed by a Community Facilitator.  Community Facilitators are usually joined by other Facilitators or Network Assistants to form a Facilitation Team.  They are specially trained and skilled to deal with every aspect of the PeerConnect experience – encouraging professionals to join, moderating messages, offering advice and suggestions on contributions, preparing Consult Consolidated Replies, and running e-discussions on priority issues.  They are also specialists in the Community’s domain, and are familiar with the unique characteristics of the issues addressed. PeerConsult Facilitators apply “active moderation” in vetting and approving Consult messages for posting – they can work with you to edit your query to ensure it is clear and compelling, and help you phrase your responses so that they convey what you want to say.  You will find your Facilitation Team to be knowledgeable, welcoming, and service-oriented, providing a personalized experience to make sure your participation exceeds your expectations.

Interacting With Your Colleagues

Here are some guidelines for ensuring a positive and beneficial experience:

• Be collegial.  It is said that the internet is a great leveller of hierarchy – everyone participates the same way.  Participating in PeerConnect’s social network and email group builds familiarity and trust among its members, wherever they work or who they work for.  Government Ministers interact directly with persons impacted by their policy decisions; professionals with expert knowledge – the “what” – hear from practitioners with the experiential knowledge – the “how”.  Private sector participants find out from potential users where their products would have the greatest benefit.  PeerConnect’s business model is comparable to a Professional Association – you may work in different, even competing organizations, but you come together in a collegial setting and interact as professionals to further your own effectiveness and become better known to your peers.

• Be respectful.  The Membership Agreement you signed on to states that your interaction with the group must be positive and constructive.  Your knowledge is valued only if you are trusted, and so one of your goals in this forum is to gain the trust of your peers.  Even when there are opposing sides to an issue, the Consult forum can help members gain an appreciation of the core issues behind the divergent positions. PeerConnect Facilitators are skilled at helping you saying something negative in a positive manner, and at keeping the conversation engaging, insightful and moving forward. 

• Be concise.  Your professional colleagues appreciate contributions that get directly to the point.  Their queries usually call for specific items – experiences, reference material, contacts – and quick responses to take advantage of a window of opportunity.  The Consult service is designed to present a fully informed response to a member’s query in as timely a manner as possible.  It greatly helps this intention if contributors can be efficient in their writing.

• Be focused.  PeerConnect’s Consult method emphasizes structure in member interaction – member queries have clear question statements that members provide responses to.  Contributors who offer unrelated responses or introduce a different subject can dilute or completely lose the focus of the thread, leaving the query poser’s questions unanswered.  When necessary, Facilitators can intervene to urge contributors to stay on track, but contributors should generally try to focus on answering the question, knowing that if they have another topic they can post it as a separate query.

• And above all, be active.  The more members interact on the PeerConnect forums, the more beneficial the service becomes – more members equals more knowledge.  Usually the Consult query poser is not the only person benefitting from responses; others in the group often have similar concerns and find comparable value in the responses received and resources recommended.  The Consolidated Replies are filed and indexed in the Collect Document Repository, so that the knowledge gained remains accessible to future users coming across a similar issue.  And when you participate actively, you become more familiar to your fellow members, increasing your visibility and reputation among your professional colleagues. 

Other Features 

1. Anonymous postings.  Occasionally a contributor responding to a potentially sensitive query may want to send their message anonymously.  This is easily done – a contributor wishing to remain anonymous simply asks the Facilitator to send the message on their behalf, specifying that it comes from “an anonymous contributor.”
2. Cross-posting messages.  Queries posed in your Community’s Consult forum may be equally relevant to other Communities.  In these cases your facilitator can suggest “cross-posting” the query simultaneously in the other forums, enabling you to benefit from responses reflecting the viewpoints of Communities outside of your own domain.  PeerConnect’s structure makes cross-posting simple and straightforward, simply combining the respective email groups into one larger group for addressing the specific query.
3. Languages.  In the signup form you were asked to specify your preferred language.  We will be offering queries and Consolidated Replies translated into the languages which most members are conversant in.  Ultimately we intend to design our interactive forums so that communication is seamless – your message goes in your language and a user reads it in their language – so members will not be aware that they are in fact communicating in different languages.