Last Updated: September 2026
The Ugandan Community in Qatar ("UGACOQ", "we", "us", or "our") operates the UGACOQ Member Portal at ugacoq.org (the "Portal"), including membership registration, the community board, messaging, the Leadership Elections feature, the Complaint/Petition form, the digital ID card, and the UGACOQ SACCO savings platform. This Privacy Policy explains what information these features collect, why, and what rights you have over it.
At registration: full name, email, date of birth, gender, place of birth, marital status, phone numbers, physical address, passport number, Qatar ID/Visa number, employment and visa details, next-of-kin details, and any skills/talents you choose to share.
Optional profile data: a profile photo (a URL you provide, or a file you upload), and blood group. Blood group is health information — we only collect it if you voluntarily add it (at registration or later in Profile settings), and we only use it to display it on your own digital ID card. It is never shared with other members.
Community features: posts, comments, reactions and messages you send are stored and shown to the audience that feature is designed for (public board posts to all members, private messages only to the recipient).
Leadership Elections: if you apply for a post, your application statement and identity are shown to other members considering your candidacy; if you vote, your ballot is recorded but never shown to anyone, including admins — only aggregate counts are ever displayed.
Complaint/Petition form: whatever you enter in the form, including sensitive details you choose to disclose about an incident. This is emailed to UGACOQ administrators and stored in a restricted-access log for follow-up.
UGACOQ SACCO: if you apply to join, we collect the additional fields on that application — identification details, next-of-kin and beneficiary information, employment details, bank/mobile-money payout details, and (optionally) a photo. We also keep a record of every deposit, withdrawal, and share transaction you submit, including the payment reference you provide. See Section 6 for more on how this financial data is handled.
Automatically: a session token (see Section 8, Cookies & Local Storage) and basic timestamps of when records are created or updated.
Blood group is the only health-related field we collect, and it is entirely optional. Qatar ID/Visa number, passport number, home address and phone numbers are treated as sensitive identity data: they are hidden from every other member by default and only ever visible to you, and (for SACCO-specific fields) to SACCO Treasurers/Chairpersons reviewing your application.
The Portal is built on Google Workspace services: Google Sheets (as the database), Google Apps Script (as the backend), and Google Drive (for uploaded photos, restricted to "anyone with the link"). Reasonable technical measures are in place — encrypted transmission (HTTPS), session-token authentication, and role-based visibility (e.g., only SACCO admins see other members' financial data) — but as with any community-run platform, we cannot guarantee absolute security, and this is not a bank-grade financial system (see Section 6).
UGACOQ SACCO is a member-run community savings arrangement, not a licensed bank or regulated financial institution. Deposits are not government-insured. All payments are made directly between members and UGACOQ SACCO via bank transfer or mobile money — the Portal never processes payments itself; it only records transactions that a Treasurer or Chairperson has manually verified. Financial transaction records are retained indefinitely for accounting and audit integrity, even if you later delete your Portal account (see Section 9) — we anonymize your personal details but do not remove your transaction history, consistent with standard bookkeeping practice.
We do NOT sell your personal information. It is shared only:
The Portal stores a login session token and a short-lived cache of your own data in your browser's local storage, so you stay signed in and the app loads quickly. This stays on your device — it is not a tracking cookie shared with third parties. Clearing your browser's site data will sign you out.
You have the right to access, correct, and delete your data. Most fields can be corrected yourself under Profile → Edit. You can delete your account at any time from Profile → Edit → Danger Zone. Deleting your account:
To request anything this self-service flow doesn't cover, contact us using the details in Section 12.
The Portal is intended for adult members (18+). We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as the Portal changes. Material changes will be announced via the Community Board or email.
For privacy-related questions or requests, contact us at:
By registering for or using the UGACOQ Member Portal, you consent to this Privacy Policy.
This policy was drafted to plainly and accurately describe what the Portal actually does. It is not a substitute for review by a qualified lawyer familiar with Qatar's Personal Data Privacy Law No. 13 of 2016 — UGACOQ is encouraged to obtain that review, particularly for the SACCO feature.