Ghana Data Protection Act Compliance
ChurchConnect operates in full compliance with the Ghana Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) and is registered with the Data Protection Commission of Ghana.
The church administrator (account holder) is the Data Controller.
ChurchConnect (operated by Oric Network, Ghana) is the Data Processor.
1. Information We Collect
ChurchConnect collects information that you provide directly to us, including:
- Church information (name, location, contact details, denomination)
- Pastor/leader information (name, email, phone number)
- Member data (names, phone numbers, email addresses, departments, date of birth, attendance records)
- Message content and scheduling information
- SMS API credentials for message delivery (encrypted at rest)
- Financial transaction records (tithe, offerings, donations)
- Biometric facial embeddings (if biometric attendance is enabled — stored locally, not transmitted to cloud)
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Provide and maintain the ChurchConnect service
- Send SMS messages to your church members via Arkesel Ghana
- Send automated birthday and anniversary greetings
- Track attendance and generate reports
- Record and report financial transactions
- Process your requests and provide customer support
- Improve our services and develop new features
- Communicate with you about service updates and security notices
3. Data Controller vs. Processor
Under Act 843 a clear distinction is drawn between who controls data and who processes it on their behalf:
| Role | Party | Responsibility |
|---|
| Data Controller | Church Administrator (you) | Decides what member data is collected and why; responsible for obtaining DPA consent from members |
| Data Processor | ChurchConnect / Oric Network | Stores and processes data only on the Controller's instructions; does not use data for any other purpose |
4. Actual Data Flows
The following describes exactly where your data goes:
- Member records (name, phone, email, attendance, finance) — stored on ChurchConnect servers in Ghana / Namecheap shared hosting. Not shared with any third party.
- SMS messages — phone numbers and message content are transmitted to Arkesel Ghana (arkesel.com) for delivery. Arkesel is a registered Ghanaian telecoms aggregator bound by NCA Ghana regulations.
- OTP verification codes — sent via Arkesel SMS or email. Not stored after verification.
- AI features (optional) — if the AI assistant or translation feature is used, conversation content is sent to Anthropic's Claude API (USA). No personal member PII is included unless you explicitly copy it into the chat.
- No data is sold to any third party. No advertising networks receive any data.
5. Data Protection Measures
- All connections use HTTPS/TLS encryption in transit
- Arkesel API keys are AES-256 encrypted at rest in the database
- Passwords are hashed using bcrypt (never stored in plain text)
- 6-digit OTP PINs are bcrypt-hashed; rate-limited to 10 attempts per 5 minutes
- Session tokens are rotated on each login and invalidated on logout
- Multi-tenant isolation: each church's data is scoped by
user_id foreign key on every database query
- CSRF tokens on all state-changing forms
- Parameterised SQL queries throughout — SQL injection is not possible
- Role-based access control: staff users see only what their role permits
6. Data Retention
- All church data is retained for the lifetime of the active account.
- Attendance records older than 2 years are automatically moved to a compressed archive.
- On account deletion request, a 30-day grace period applies. After 30 days all records are permanently purged.
- Backups are retained for up to 30 days, after which they are also purged.
- OTP codes expire after 10 minutes and are deleted after verification.
7. Your Rights Under Act 843
As a church administrator (Data Controller) and as a member, you have the following rights:
- Right of access — request a copy of all data we hold about you at any time.
- Right to data portability — download a ZIP export of all your church data from Settings → Account & Data → Export My Data.
- Right to rectification — correct inaccurate information via the Settings page.
- Right to erasure — request account deletion from Settings → Account & Data → Delete Account. Data is purged within 30 days.
- Right to object — contact us to object to any specific processing activity.
- Right to lodge a complaint — you may lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission of Ghana.
8. Cookies & Local Storage
ChurchConnect uses a single session cookie (PHPSESSID) to maintain your login state.
No advertising or tracking cookies are used. The service worker may cache static assets (CSS, JS, offline page)
in your browser for offline performance — this cache contains no personal data.
9. DPA Consent at Registration
New church accounts are required to acknowledge this privacy policy and the Ghana Data Protection Act obligations at the point of registration.
Existing accounts registered before this requirement are unaffected — they are encouraged to review and acknowledge at next login.
10. Policy Changes
Material changes to this policy will be communicated by email to the registered church administrator
at least 14 days before taking effect. Continued use of the service after that date constitutes acceptance.
This policy was last updated: May 2026.
11. Contact & Data Protection Officer
For data protection enquiries, subject access requests, or complaints: