We are the United Nations Advocacy Community

Committed to keeping the United Nations System valued and valuable

Leveraging the Power of Community to amplify our individual voices into a collective force for increasing global awareness about the important past, present and potential future work and impact the United Nations has done, is doing and should continue to do.

Find out more about us. Have a look at

The United Nations Advocacy Community

Focus (Who We Are)

The United Nations Advocacy Community brings together professionals who are passionate about the value and continuing relevance of the United Nations System. We are committed to leveraging our knowledge, experience and networks to enlighten decision-makers and influencers in our respective countries and societies about the important past, present and potential future work and impact of the United Nations.

We are motivated by the current global dynamics weakening member states’ commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter to maintain international peace and security, foster international cooperation, and promote human rights. We are eager to serve its aims through increasing global understanding about and support for the unique role played by the United Nations in peacebuilding, humanitarian relief, and international development.

Scope (What We Do)

Activities include:

Sharing and publicizing success stories and examples where UN System organizations have influenced policies and impacted programmes benefitting society
Advocating for the United Nations through various mediums – Op-eds, presentations to parliaments, civic groups and students, organizing or participating in UN-related events
Mentoring PhD students and advising researchers drawing lessons from UN interventions that promoted peace, humanitarianism, and sustainable development
Sharing knowledge, experiences and insights with members facing challenges winning over decision-makers and influencers
Collaborating on assignments to produce tools and strategies promoting UN impact and influence
Contributing member’s stories and viewpoints to a periodic publication intended to further the Community’s goals

Membership (Who Should Join)

You should join this Community if you believe that the UN today is more necessary than ever, and you are:

A current or former staff member of a UN system organization
A public personality – political authority, statesman, diplomat or influencer with knowledge, experience or awareness of the value and relevance of the UN
A professional from a national or multinational association, think tank or academia, NGO or CSO who has collaborated with or supported the work of the UN agencies and offices
A journalist or other communications professional covering UN-related activities
A member of a local UN association, or a sponsor or promoter of UN initiatives.

Leadership (Who Guides the Community)

Our Community is guided by an Advisory Group of senior authorities reflecting the range of membership perspectives, one of which is designated as Community Convener.

What Participation Entails

We interact primarily through a moderated online network (with automatic translation) to share news, views and information, consult on challenges faced, collaborate on group assignments, and carry out team-based interventions. We participate in our personal capacities as professionals, and agree to keep conversations and other interactions positive and constructive.

The Rationale for Creating a UN Advocacy Community

Let’s tell the world why it needs a strong, vibrant United Nations

What for?

Because these are particularly perilous times, as universal acceptance of the core principles of the Charter are wavering, and the United Nations faces funding challenges and weakened influence. These developments have revealed a limited understanding and appreciation of the value and the essential contributions, often behind the scenes, of the UN System agencies, funds and progammes to sustaining a flourishing, prosperous global order over the past 80 years. The UN’s role and mandate haven’t changed; if anything, they have become more crucial than ever.

How can we make a difference?

Here’s an example of how this Community could generate impact:

Next year this colleague puts two questions to a thousand-strong UN Advocacy Community: Whose countries are having an official observance of World Humanitarian Day? Who would like their countries to have an official observance of World Humanitarian Day? The “haves” reply; the “wants” indicate interest. The haves share their strategies for getting an event on the calendar, agendas, featured speakers, and talking points, and offer to advise the “wants” on making it happen.

Think of other possibilities this Community would be uniquely positioned to offer: Amplifying the UN’s voice and extending its reach. Forming Community-wide positions to influence decision-makers. Offering informal “back-channels” to dispute resolution. Acting as a sounding board for introducing and giving feedback on UN reforms and initiatives. Uncovering forgotten successes warranting replication. And more…

Why us?

The UN-associated professional community is a large untapped asset available to promote the UN’s values and development goals. We are present across all countries, possess a wide range of talents, and in many cases play an active role in our governments and civil societies. Our community would represent one of the few truly global affinity groups that transcend political, religious and other polarizing dynamics present in our world today that inhibit forward progress on the major geopolitical and environmental challenges jeopardizing the lives and well-being of future generations.

We would distinguish our initiative from other UN-related social media groups through our promotion of the UN’s role and value with our non-UN contacts. Our Community’s impact would be measured by the level of influence of our activities.

What are our chances?

Professionals working for or with the UN are motivated by their passion to improve the world. We have experienced the unique and fulfilling privilege of working for an ideal rather than a business, and know how passion can be a more powerful driver than profit or paycheck to get work done. A Community can transform this passion into a collective force, channelling it into activities that produce real results and practical solutions. One of our team, Steve Glovinsky, has deep knowledge and expertise building impactful professional communities that thrive on peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing, increasing our chances of getting this right.

There are many factors, some known, some unknown, upon which our success depends. The model we would follow stresses active participation, continual consultation, constant monitoring of key performance parameters that tell us how we’re doing and where corrections are needed, and the flexibility to adjust as we go along.

In short, success can never be guaranteed, especially in such a dynamic situation, but we are well-positioned to stand a good chance.

Our Organization

The UN Advocacy Community is a simple structure – an Advisory Group, a Community Convener, a Facilitation Team, and the members. The Community is comprised entirely of volunteers.

The Advisory Group

The Advisory Group oversees the Community’s progress and performance. It promotes the Community’s work; identifies priority issues; sets and monitors performance and impact targets. Members reflect the range of Community perspectives.

The Community Convener

The Community Convener acts as the authority representing the Community. They are a member of and convene the Advisory Group, supervise the Facilitation Team, and assure the quality of the Community’s knowledge product.

The Facilitation Team

The Facilitation Team manages day-to-day Community operation. The team moderates messages, works to achieve performance targets, follows up on outcomes from Queries including member collaboration opportunities, and promotes overall member satisfaction.

The Community members

The Community members are the Community. They participate in Community activities, interact with each other and, applying our trust-building model, gradually build the familiarity and trust needed to increase our individual and collective influence and impact. Importantly, our members are the owners of our Community – we are devoid of hierarchy and share responsibility for community effectiveness.

Our Method

The UN Advocacy Community is an “Action Network” – our interactions are directed towards influencing decision-makers about the issue we care passionately about – sustaining the role of the UN as covenener of the world’s nations for keeping the peace, mitigating human suffering, and strengthening national institutions, so that it remains valued and valuable for the next 80 years.

To make this happen we apply the following key processes, developed over 25 years of experience with virtual Communities*

Peer-to-Peer knowledge sharing

Send your query to the Community. The Community members respond. The thread is compiled, summarized, posted and indexed for future reference. You have a quick, comprehensive and actionable way forward.

Active moderation

We operate on the premise that professionals with the same interest or profession like helping each other out. If, for example, you are a member of a disaster management professional community, your colleagues won’t care about your politics, your nationality or your religion if you know of a way to save more lives. To keep discussions devoid of subjective and possibly disruptive opinions, our moderators vet all contributions prior to posting, editing (with your permission) or removing any that contravene the “membership agreement” accepted upon joining, which states that contributions will be positive and constructive.

A trust-building roadmap

It can be intimidating to post your first message to potentially a thousand people. But the more acquainted you become with your fellow members, the less intimidating it seems. Our model is designed to progress at a pace that deepens trust while retaining comfort levels.

Start where you are. The great majority of our members would have a LinkedIn profile; others can sign up easily. We therefore use LinkedIn Group as our initial channel, where members can continue interacting to share information and build familiarity with fellow subscribers.
Move into knowledge-sharing. To trust the knowledge you must trust the knower. Familiarity builds trust, as members gain appreciation of who could help them and who they could help. When the Community evolves and increases in size – more members means more knowledge – we open the “Consult” channel, featuring our peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing method.
Move into collaborating. Some query threads will conclude with a proposal to develop a product – guidelines, processes, tools, research projects – that would motivate a sponsor to commission a working group to address. Trust at this level translates into collaboration.
Engage as a collective force. The highest trust level is where members apply their trust to strengthen Community cohesion. Tackle the big issues. Be recognized as a major actor in ensuring a revitalized United Nations.

For a complete description of what your use of and participation on the site entails, review our terms of service, using the links on the website footer.

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. PeerConnect is 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. To make this happen we apply the following key processes, developed over 25 years of experience with virtual Communities*

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.

Our Platforms

Communication Channels. When fully actualized, the UN Advocacy Community will be using two communication channels, accessible from our Website:

Communication Channels

When fully actualized, the UN Advocacy Community will be using two communication channels, accessible from our Website:

A LinkedIn Group, where members can share information – Relevant news, publications, stories, opinion pieces, podcasts, presentations, announcements, and other content of interest to the Community.
An email group, where members can share knowledge – peer-to-peer consultations on challenges faced, where one member seeks advice, insights and comparative experiences from the whole Community.

LinkedIn has several advantages as our best information-sharing channel. LinkedIn is designed as a forum for professionals; most of our member base are likely to be on it already; it promotes organic Community growth through connections-mapping; and it’s free. Professionals not on LinkedIn but interested in becoming a Community can subscribe to a free version of LinkedIn through a simple, brief signup process.

Email is the preferred platform for our knowledge-sharing channel. Email is well suited to the long-form messaging required for composing carefully thought-through contributions. It is ubiquitous – everyone has an email address. Its familiarity eliminates barrier to entry considerations. It is well-suited as the main communication mode of our member base, who generally use it in their professional environments. It is asynchronous, allowing message postings to be paced or combined to lighten traffic. Professionals more used to interacting over quick-turnaround formats may re-discover email’s advantages as the “slow-food” equivalent to “fast-food.”

Collaboration Channels

When fully actualized, the Community will also be accessing two collaboration channels through our website:

Zoom Workplace, where members can access tools and resources for small-group collaboration to generate knowledge products. In addition to using Zoom and other communication tools for virtual meetings, the Workplace offers productivity tools (whiteboard, collaborative docs, task management) to facilitate group work.
WhatsApp, for members to create their own internal groups to facilitate interaction and develop a rapport in a closed setting.

The Document Repository

Every consultation thread summary (“Consolidated Reply”) and the knowledge assets recommended by contributors, as well as products generated by the Community and material posted on the LinkedIn Group (conforming to Intellectual Property regimes) will be retained or referenced in our Document Repository. Each item will be indexed with metadata to facilitate searching, so that items considered by the Community can easily be recalled and not lost in unstructured conversation threads. Critically – every item posted will be attributed to the person contributing it and the context in which it was contributed.

Our intent is to leverage information- and knowledge-sharing to create closer human connections among our members, strengthening our sense of community.

Our Progress

Perfomance and impact metrics

An Action Network should be laser-focused on impact – in this case, maximizing its influence on the party or group it intends to influence. Our method applies a combination of generated data and feedback surveys to derive six performance indicators compiled quarterly, and three impact indicators compiled biannually, that are trended to determine whether these parameters are increasing, staying the same, or decreasing. These indicators also serve as management tools to help the Facilitation Team direct its effort, and are reviewed by the Advisory Group providing Community oversight and guidance

Our Members

The Advisory Group. Advisory Group members will be identified soon after the Community’s Launch, so that potential candidates have an opportunity to gain a sense of its operations. In the interim, a five-person “Core Leadership Group”, is covering the Advisory Group’s responsibilities, and will also identify the members of the full Group.

The Community Convener

The Community Convener will be identified by the Advisory Group at their first meeting.

The Facilitation Team

The Facilitation Team currently comprises four volunteers – the three Community Co-Founders Andrea Tamagnini, Franco Becchi, and Steve Glovinsky, plus Steve’s colleague and trained Facilitator Ms. Nupur Gupta.

Community Members

When our Community is launched we will post a list of members – Name; Organization; Location – so that visitors and other members can get a sense of the professionals that make up our Community. Our intent is to leverage information- and knowledge-sharing to create closer human connections among our members, strengthening our sense of community.

MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT

THE UNITED NATIONS ADVOCACY COMMUNITY
Seven Rules of Participation

To be accepted as a condition for joining this Community

Joining this 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 this Community and interacting with colleagues over the Share and Consult forums, you hereby agree to follow these seven basic Rules of Participation:

This Community is comprised 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.

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. The online forums 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. Spam and promotional solicitations are also not allowed.

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. The Participation Guidelines offers additional advice to ensure that your membership in this Community is a positive and beneficial experience

Postings to the Share and Consult forums are subject to this Community’s Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License 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 Document Repository, where they acquire the rights associated with the Community’s Creative Commons license.

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. When a message is withheld or heavily edited, the Facilitator will notify and/or consult with the sender.

In posting edited and unedited messages or incorporating these messages into synthesized responses (“Consolidated Replies”), Community management 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.

Members also agree to adhere to the legal rights associated with using the Community’s website and interactive forums. Legal terms and conditions governing the use of the website, forums and the material contained therein are spelled out in the Terms of Service applied by PeerConnect Knowledge Solutions, LinkedIn and other applications included in the Community’s online platform.

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.

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.
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.
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.
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:

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. 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. Other Intellectual Property Rights

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.
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.
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

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.
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
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.
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.
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

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.
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.
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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Company and its Client Entities claim no ownership interest in any third-party content and expressly disclaims any liability concerning those materials.
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. 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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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

These Terms apply in full force to and govern your use of this and all other PeerConnect Websites and Services.
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.
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:

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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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

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.”
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.
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.

Accessing PeerConnect’s Websites and Public Material

(“Terms of Use”)

This section presents the Terms and Conditions of Use (hereinafter referred to as the “Terms”) for visitors to PeerConnect Websites regarding their use of the material on these Websites.
Your use of any of these Websites means and amounts to express agreement of these Terms in full.

1. Introduction

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 for the purpose of improving individual effectiveness and collective influence.
The Company’s Client Entities are organizations, agencies, associations or other legally recognized entities who have entered into a 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 specified therein.
Client Entities appoint or engage Community Facilitators to manage their PeerConnect Websites and Services.
Facilitators have full administrative rights and moderate their Community’s forums. Company staff (PeerConnect Administrators) oversee operations across all PeerConnect Communities.
Full access to PeerConnect’s Services is available only to professionals subscribed to one or more participating Communities (“Members”) using a username and password.
Members are subject to a separate “Terms of Participation” agreement outlining their rights and obligations.
The Company and its Client Entities allow public visitors limited access to:
- Content on public PeerConnect Websites.
- Content in PeerConnect’s “Collect” Document Repository.
These two areas have specific Terms of Use detailed separately below.

¹The 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. Use of Peer Connect’s Public Websites

The purpose of the information provided on the public PeerConnect Websites of the Company and its Client Entities is to increase public visibility and recognition for PeerConnect or a specific PeerConnect Community, disseminate to the wider public news, views and information of general interest posted by PeerConnect Administrators, Community Facilitators and Members, and encourage an entity to create or professionals to join a PeerConnect Community.
The Company’s PeerConnect Website is controlled and offered by the Company from its facilities in India, and the PeerConnect Websites of its Client Entities are controlled and offered by their respective facilities in the countries or international jurisdictions where they are located. The Company makes no representations that these Websites are appropriate or available for use in other locations. If you are accessing or using these Websites from other jurisdictions, you do so at your own risk and you are responsible for compliance with local law. Notwithstanding the foregoing, these Websites may contain or provide links to content hosted on Websites located in other jurisdictions.
Other than the statistical information presented with respect to PeerConnect’s performance and impact, content published on these Websites is only indicative or illustrative in nature and not intended as validated facts. Further, the Company and its Client Entities have the right to change the content of the Website at their sole discretion at any time, without any notice.
Company and Client Entity Websites contain links or pointers to other websites, but you should not infer or assume that the Company operates, controls, or is otherwise connected with these other websites. When you click on a link within a Company or Client Entity Website, the Company or Client Entity may not warn you that you have left their Website and are subject to the terms and conditions (including privacy policies) of another website. Please be careful to read the terms of use and privacy policy of any other website before you provide any confidential information or engage in any transactions. You should not rely on these Terms to govern your use of another website.

3. Use of Peer Connect’s “Collect” Document Repository

PeerConnect’s “Collect” Document Repository (the “Repository”) is an indexed compilation of documents, products, references and other resource material contributed by Community Members and Facilitators through the PeerConnect Share, Consult, Collaborate and Engage services. It is hosted and managed by the Company and made available through a search engine to Community Members as well as to public visitors to the Company and Client Entity Websites. Each item in the Repository retains its association with the name, organization and location of the Member contributing the resource, and the Community and context (document; message) in which it was contributed. The Repository is designed to disseminate for wider use by professionals PeerConnect knowledge products and resources that may either be of direct interest or lead through cross-referencing to other potentially useful material.
Public visitors accessing the Repository must adhere to the above Terms of Use for public PeerConnect Websites, as well as the following Terms specifically relating to use of the Repository. By accessing the Repository and clicking the “I agree” box on its opening page, you agree to be bound by these terms.
All content in the Repository is the property of the Company and, unless otherwise specified, is freely accessible to all visitors under the Creative Commons copyright regime “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike” (CC-BY-NC-SA). This license lets you use, copy and distribute a contributed work, except for commercial purposes, as long as you credit PeerConnect and the contributor. 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.
For additional details on PeerConnect’s application of its Creative Commons license, and instances where it would not be applied, refer to the Copyright Sections 5 and 6 of the Terms of Participation as a Community Member.
Material accessed from but not located in the Repository retains the intellectual property rights bestowed on it, and if used, copied, or distributed, must be referenced accordingly.
In the event that you use material contained in or accessed from the Repository, it is your duty to inform all third parties about the terms and conditions that apply to such material from this agreement as well as those arising out of the Creative Commons license.
As a visitor to the Repository, you are invited to contribute comments on material posted and to add a rating (from one to five “stars”) signifying your opinion of its significance. Comments must be respectful, relevant and informative, and must be considered and approved by an authorized Community Facilitator before posting. To submit a comment, you will be required to provide your name and location, which will be prefaced to your contribution, and an email contact, which will not be disclosed.
In approving or rejecting a comment submitted by a visitor to the Repository, the Community Facilitator reserves the right, on behalf of the Company, to exercise discretion over whether or not it is appropriate and complies with these Terms, and to reject it without explanation if they determine it does not, or to remove it without notice or explanation if on further review it is determined to be inappropriate.

4. Privacy Policy

To help us to constantly improve our services and understand the needs of our users, the Company and its Client Entities may implement software on their Websites that enables us to track information about the nature of usage and navigation through these sites. The Company may also record your IP address and information such as your browser type and operating system, which enables us to learn about the geographical distribution of our Websites’ visitors and the technology they use to access our sites. Information may also be collected through small data pieces known as cookies, stored on the Company’s servers, which may also be written to your computer system. (A cookie is a small piece of information stored by a website on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies are extensively used by most websites as a convenient way to store information it knows about you.) The information collected would be used internally only for website traffic analysis. If the user specifically provides unique identifying information, such as name, address and other information on forms stored on this site, such information would only be used for statistical purposes and published for general access in the aggregate, with all data anonymized.
Data generated from visitor use of the Website, such as user attributes, volume of traffic etc., will be used by the Company for analytical and reporting purposes, and for promotional material. PeerConnect officers may also from time to time seek your feedback through a survey of users in the form of numeric ratings or statements. This data will be anonymized and published in the aggregate and will not contain any identifying information of individual visitors.
To help us improve PeerConnect and foster a positive user experience, we may ask visitors to our sites for their opinion on areas related to our performance. We may document your feedback and use it for reporting purposes, but we would not reveal its source without your permission. We would also seek your permission to use solicited or unsolicited feedback, including submissions through the “Contact Us” facility, for promotional purposes such as testimonials and quotations for our Website, brochures and leaflets.
The Company and its Client Entities will use the information provided by you only for bona fide purposes and will not commercialize or otherwise make it available to any database service provider.

5. Restrictions

You agree that your access to this and other PeerConnect Websites will be limited by the Company and its Client Entities. Further, you agree to abide by the following restrictions that would be placed on your access to these websites.
You agree not to:
1. Sell, rent or sub-license material from any PeerConnect Website or the Repository
2. Use these Websites, the Repository, or information or data collected therefrom, in relation to advertising and marketing including but not limited to e-mail marketing, SMS marketing, direct marketing and/or telemarketing
3. Use these Websites or the Repository in any way that causes, or may cause, damage or impairment of their availability or accessibility; or in any way which is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity
4. Circumvent, remove, alter, deactivate, degrade or thwart any of the content protections in the Websites or Repository
5. Either directly or through the use of any device, software, internet website, web-based service or other means copy, download, stream capture, reproduce, duplicate, archive, distribute, upload, publish, modify, translate, broadcast, perform, display, sell, transmit or retransmit content from these Websites or Repository except as authorized under their Creative Commons copyright regime “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike” (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 international license, unless expressly permitted by the Company
6. Either directly or through the use of any device, software, internet website, web-based service, or other means remove, alter, bypass, avoid, interfere with, or circumvent any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices marked on the Websites or Repository content or any digital rights management mechanism, device, or other content protection or access control measure associated with this content, including geo-filtering mechanisms
7. Use these Websites or the Repository in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair and not to undertake any action which is harmful or potentially harmful to any servers of the Company or its Client Entities, or to the network(s), computer systems / resource connected to any of these servers, or interfere with any other person´s use and enjoyment of the Websites or the Repository
8. Obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through the Websites or the Repository
9. Carry out any denial of service (DoS, DDoS) or any other harmful attacks on application or internet service or use the Websites or the Repository for illegal or unlawful purposes
10. Disrupt, place unreasonable burdens or excessive loads on, interfere with or attempt to make any unauthorized access to these Websites or the Repository
11. Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through these Websites or the Repository
12. Attempt to gain unauthorized access to restricted PeerConnect Services, other accounts and computer systems through hacking, password mining or any other means
13. Incorporate these Websites or the Repository into, or retransmit via, any hardware or software application or make it available via frames or in-line links unless expressly permitted by the Company in writing
14. Create, recreate, distribute or advertise an index of any significant portion of these Websites or Repository unless authorized by the Company
15. Use or launch any robots, spiders, offline readers etc. or any other automated system, that accesses these Websites or the Repository in a manner that sends numerous automated requests to their servers in a given period of time, which a human cannot reasonably send in the same period by using conventional web browsing application or tool(s) for similar purposes
16. Submit for posting in these Websites or Repository any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, email, junk mail, spam, chain letters or other form of solicitation, such as requesting Community Member login information or access to their account
17. Use these Websites, the Repository or their content for any commercial purpose or the benefit of any third party or in any manner not permitted by these Terms of Use
18. Impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity
19. Encourage or enable any other individual to do any of the foregoing
20. Create derivative works or materials that otherwise are derived from or based on the Repository content in any way, including montages, mash-ups and similar videos, wallpaper, desktop themes, greeting cards, and merchandise, unless it is expressly permitted and is further used and shared under the Company’s Creative Commons license. This prohibition applies even if you intend to give away the derivative materials free of charge
21. Not misconduct yourself in any manner which may lead to any criminal prosecution or legal proceedings.

6. Disclaimer of Warranties and Liability

You understand and agree that the Company and its Client Entities provide their PeerConnect Websites and the Collect Document Repository on an as-is basis, with all faults and as available. You agree that use of these Websites and the Repository is at your risk. All warranties for the title and non-infringement are disclaimed and excluded.
The views and opinions contributed by Members and incorporated in the Consolidated Replies and other resources in the Repository do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Company or its Client Entities.
The Company or its Client Entities are not responsible for content provided by Community Members, which may be incorporated into Consolidated Replies and other resources in the Repository. You understand that by using the Repository 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.
No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made by the Company and its Client Entities as to the following with respect to the information on the PeerConnect Websites and Repository content:
- 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.
You warrant that you have all the necessary skill and judgment required to understand the knowledge and information available on the Community Websites and Repository. 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.
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, the Company and/or the Client Entities (including their respective personnel) can neither warrant against nor be made liable for any cases where this contravened content or material appears in products and resources uploaded to the Repository.
The Company does not warrant that any of the software used and/or licensed in connection with the Websites and the Repository will be compatible with other third-party software or devices, nor does it warrant that operation of the Websites, the Repository and the associated software will not damage or disrupt other software or hardware.
The Company employs the latest and best technologies to protect user information. However, the Company and/or its Client Entities assume no responsibility for the security of this information.
The Company or its Client Entities cannot 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.
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 the PeerConnect Websites or the Repository, whether based on contract, tort, strict liability, or other theory. 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.
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 Websites and the Repository (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 in 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 and Repository content.
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 Website 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.
The Company and its Client Entities will not be responsible for any delay in transmission due to any technical issues at the end of the users of this Website.
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.
The Company and its Client Entities claim no ownership interest in any third-party content and expressly disclaims any liability concerning those materials.

7. Indemnification

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 the Websites or the Repository;
- 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.
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.
In case, when providing messages through the “Contact Us” facility on the PeerConnect Websites, comments and ratings on Repository resources, or feedback to user surveys, 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 the Websites or Repository, 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 us for any such loss.

8. General Terms

Force Majeure
Neither the Company and its Client Entities nor you shall have any liability for any interruption or delay, to access the Website 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.
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, India. 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.
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.
Entire Agreement
These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and the Company or 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.

9. Acceptance of Terms of Use

These Terms apply in full force to and govern your use of this and all other PeerConnect Websites, including all webpages thereof. Use of this Website means and amounts to express agreement of these Terms in full.
YOUR ACCESS OR USE OF PEERCONNECT WEBSITES SHALL MEAN THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS. If you do not agree to the Terms, you are not authorized to use these Websites.
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. Please check these Terms periodically for changes. Your continued use of PeerConnect Websites after the posting of changes constitutes your binding acceptance of such changes.

We are the United Nations Advocacy Community

The United Nations Advocacy Community

The Rationale for Creating a UN Advocacy Community

What for?

How can we make a difference?

Why us?

What are our chances?

Our Organization

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PeerConnect Knowledge Solutions LLP

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PeerConnect Knowledge Solutions LLP

The United Nations Advocacy Community

Focus (Who We Are)

Scope (What We Do)

Membership (Who Should Join)

Leadership (Who Guides the Community)

What Participation Entails

The Rationale for Creating a UN Advocacy Community

What for?

How can we make a difference?

Why us?

What are our chances?

Our Organization

Our Method

For a complete description of what your use of and participation on the site entails, review our terms of service, using the links on the website footer.

Our Platforms

Our Progress

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