Privacy Policy

The Village Project (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect through thevillageproject.co.za, why we collect it, and the rights you have under POPIA.

1. Who is responsible for your information

The responsible party (and Information Officer) is Anrich van der Merwe, The Village Project.
Email: anrich.vandermerwe@thevillageproject.co.za
Phone: +27 83 257 6768

2. What we collect

• Information you give us through our forms — your name, company/organisation, email address, phone number, and anything you include in a message or enquiry.
• Technical information collected automatically — such as your device and browser type, and pages visited, gathered through standard analytics and advertising tools (see cookies & tracking below).

3. Why we collect it

• To respond to your enquiry and provide the service, consultation or resource (such as a guide) you requested.
• To contact you about our services, where you have asked us to or where we have a legitimate interest in doing so.
• To send you resources or occasional updates, where you have signed up — you can unsubscribe at any time.
• To understand and improve how our website and advertising perform.

We process your information on the basis of your consent and our legitimate business interests.

4. Cookies & tracking

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies, including the Meta (Facebook) Pixel, to measure and improve our advertising, and standard hosting tools. These may set cookies on your device. You can control or block cookies through your browser settings; some site features may not work as well if you do.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information, and we never share it for others’ marketing. We use trusted service providers (operators) to run our website and communications, who process information only on our instructions:

• Netlify — website hosting and secure form handling.
• Zoho — email and, where you’ve subscribed, our mailing list.
• Meta Platforms — advertising measurement via the Meta Pixel.

We may also disclose information if required by law.

6. How long we keep it

We keep your information only as long as needed for the purposes above, or as required by law. If you ask us to delete your information and we are not required to keep it, we will.

7. How we protect it

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to keep your information secure, including encrypted (HTTPS) transmission and reputable service providers. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, but we work to protect your information.

8. Your rights under POPIA

You have the right to:

• Ask what personal information we hold about you, and request a copy.
• Ask us to correct or update information that is inaccurate.
• Ask us to delete your information, or object to us processing it.
• Withdraw your consent at any time (for example, unsubscribe from emails).
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

To exercise any of these, email us at anrich.vandermerwe@thevillageproject.co.za.

9. The Information Regulator

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you may contact the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforegulator.org.za, email POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.