Privacy Statement

The MENALINKS programme is hosted by Guidehouse Germany GmbH. This privacy statement provides you with insights into what, when, and how your personal data is collected and used when you visit the website of the MENALINKS programme, subscribe to the MENALINKS Newsletter, when you visit a MENALINKS event, or when you use or access the MENALINKS speaker database.

Why and how do we process your personal data?

Expert and speaker database

We maintain a database of female experts as part of the MENALINKS programme, which includes personal profile information such as names, professional backgrounds, and contact details. When you begin the registration process, your email address is saved so we can send reminders and follow-up messages to help you complete your profile. If the registration is not completed within a reasonable timeframe, any personal information provided will be deleted. This data is stored securely on our own servers and may be displayed publicly on our website, including personal contact information if the individual has explicitly chosen to make it visible during the registration process. Registered users may receive automated messages from our server or manually sent messages related to their profile or participation in the database. All data will be retained until three years after the conclusion of the MENALINKS programme, which means until the year 2034. At any time, users have the right to access, edit, or delete their personal data directly. Upon the conclusion of the MENALINKS programme, the database may be transferred to another organization to ensure its continuation. However, no personal data will be transferred without the explicit consent of each individual user through an opt-in process.

MENALINKS newsletter

To distribute our newsletter, we use the service provider Mailchimp. When you subscribe to the MENALINKS newsletter, only your email address is transferred to Mailchimp for the sole purpose of sending you the newsletter. We use a double opt-in process to confirm your consent, and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link included in each newsletter. Mailchimp acts as a data processor under the GDPR, and we have a Data Processing Agreement in place to ensure your data is handled securely and lawfully. While Mailchimp may store data on servers outside the EU, it applies appropriate safeguards to protect your information. No profiling or behavioural tracking is conducted through Mailchimp beyond basic engagement metrics such as open rates, which are used only to improve the relevance of our communications.

Event registration

When you register for events through the MENALINKS programme website or via registration forms shared via other communication channels such emails, our newsletter, or social media, the contact information you provide—such as your name, email address, and organisation—will be stored for the duration of the programme. This data is retained for audit purposes and to enable individual outreach by our team, including updates or follow-ups related to the event or your participation. The information will not be used for any other purpose without your explicit consent, and you retain the right to access, update, or delete your data at any time.

Pictures and recordings during events (in-person and online)

During online and in-person events organized by the MENALINKS programme (or in which you are taking part via sponsorship or facilitation by the MENALINKS programme, such as third-party conferences) , we may take photographs and make video or audio recordings for the purpose of reporting and sharing highlights on our website and social media channels.  By participating in the event and in group pictures, you consent to the recordings being used by the MENALINKS Consortium, the International Climate Initiative (IKI), the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE, formerly known as the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, BWMK), and/or the Federal Foreign Office (AA) as part of public relations work, e.g. on social media. If you do not want to be photographed or recorded, please let us know in advance – you will be provided a visual identifier so photographers can respect your wishes. You can also choose not to be present when the photographs are being taken or the recording occurs. Webinars may be recorded and published online after the event. While webinar recordings will generally only feature speakers and no recordings of the audience, you consent to this publication of your voice and recording if you take part in a potential discussion block of the webinar and turn on your camera and/or microphone for this purpose. In the case of in-person events, you will be informed again about this during the event registration and will of course have the option to opt out of these recordings. In the case of online events, you will be informed about potential recordings at the start of the event.

On what legal ground(s) do we process your personal data?

The processing operations of personal data, linked to the organisation, management, follow-up and promotion of MENALINKS meetings and events (including photos, audio-visual recording), to use the website and to use the database, are necessary for the management and functioning of the MENALINKS programme.

Legal ground for collecting and processing the personal data is either consent of the individuals concerned which is explicitly requested (and can be withdrawn) or legitimate interest of MENALINKS since we need personal data of participants to effectively run the programme which sometimes might outweigh the interests of the participants concerned.

Which personal data do we collect and further process?

The following personal data may be processed in the context of the MENALINKS programme:

• contact details (function/title, first name, last name, professional title, name of organisation, type of organisation, sector, city, country, email address, telephone number, and similar);

• nationality, passport or identity card number and its date of issue and expiry date may be collected, so that the data subjects may obtain access to the premises where the meeting/event is held;

• financial information (such as a payment card number or bank account) may be collected for possible reimbursements;

• dietary requests (if any) or specific access requirements (for events);

• preference/choice of sessions withing the event agenda (for events);

• Image/picture and pen profile;

• Social media handles;

• Recordings .

For the MENALINKS expert database specifically, users may choose to provide the following information to be made available publicly on the MENALINKS Website:

• professional information (such as expertise area, industry, employers, position, job level, and speaking expertise);

• personal information (such as contact information, links to profiles or websites, pictures, languages, country and city of residence, membership in various organisations as well willingness to cooperate for mentorship or other activities);

• and any additional information provided by users in free text fields such as recent publications, awards, or accomplishments.

How long do we keep your personal data?

Guidehouse Germany GmbH and partners listed below only keep your personal data for the time necessary to fulfil the purpose of collection or further processing.

For each of the categories of personal data that may be processed, please find below the retention details and the reference to the relevant record of processing:

• Personal data related to the organisation and management of meetings or events (this includes the information given during the registration, before, during or after the event), as well as data provided during the registration for the expert database and/or the MENALINKS newsletter will be kept for up to three years after the event. Personal data will be stored only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, and in accordance with the legally required retention periods under applicable data protection laws (e.g., to demonstrate consent for newsletter sign-ups, or to verify event participation to the International Climate Initiative and its auditing entities). Separate legal requirements such as tax regulation may require us to keep some kind of data longer to comply with legal or tax obligations.

• Sensitive personal data relating to dietary and/or access requirements will be deleted as soon as they are no longer necessary for the purpose for which they have been collected in the framework of a meeting or event, but no later than within 3 months after the end of the meeting or event

• In case of audio-visual recording of a meeting or event which is published online, the recordings will be kept until three years after the end of the MENALINKS programme (which is planned for 30th November 2029).

• Personal data shared with the controller for future mailing purposes (e.g., for receiving newsletters or invitations to similar events) are processed in line with this privacy statement.

• Selected service providers for organisational purposes (such as caterers, travel agents or event management organisations) are contractually bound to process personal data on behalf of and in line with the instructions of Guidehouse as the data controller, keep confidential any data they process and protect it from unauthorised access, use and retention.

How do we protect and safeguard your personal data?

All personal data in electronic format (emails, documents, databases, uploaded batches of data, etc.) are stored on the servers of Guidehouse or its subcontracted digital service providers. All processing operations are carried out in accordance with applicable privacy legislation and with the provisions as included in this privacy statement.

In order to protect your personal data, we have put in place a number of technical and organisational measures. Technical measures include appropriate actions to address online security, risk of data loss, alteration of data or unauthorised access, taking into consideration the risk presented by the processing and the nature of the personal data being processed. Organisational measures include restricting access to the personal data solely to authorised persons with a legitimate need to know for the purposes of this processing operation.

Contractors/partners of Guidehouse are bound by specific contractual provisions for any processing operations of your personal data on behalf of Guidehouse. The processors have put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a similar protection level as Guidehouse and will only collect data necessary for the operation of the MENALINKS programme.

Who has access to your personal data and to whom is it disclosed?

Access to your personal data is provided to Guidehouse staff responsible for carrying out the processing operation and to other staff according to the “need to know” principle. Such staff abide by statutory, and when required, additional confidentiality agreements.

Where necessary, we may also share your information with our partners and/or service providers for the purposes of executing the MENALINKS programme or third parties if they would need it to organise meetings/events. This includes in particular the partner organisations of the MENALINKS consortium:

• Guidehouse Germany GmbH

• Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE)

• Royal Scientific Society – National Energy Research Center (RSS-NERC)

• MRC Türkiye

• ALCOR

• Elia Grid International (EGI)

• Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)

• Moroccan Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN)

• Renewables Academy AG (RENAC)

• Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI) and

• Fraunhofer Research Institution for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Systems (Fraunhofer IEG)

Third party IT tools, including Social Media

We may use third party IT tools to inform about and promote the meetings/events through widely used communication channels, including social media.

You may be able to watch our videos, which may be also uploaded to one of our social media pages on YouTube and LinkedIn and follow links from our website to other relevant social media.

In order to protect your privacy, our use of third-party IT tools to connect to those services does not set cookies when our website pages are loaded on your computer (or other devices), nor are you immediately redirected to those social media or other websites. Only in the event that you click on a button or “play” on a video to watch it, a cookie of the social media company concerned will be installed on your device. If you do not click on any social media buttons or videos, no cookies will be installed on your device by third parties. In order to view such third-party content on our websites, a message will alert you that you need to accept those third parties’ specific Terms and Conditions, including their cookie policies, over which the MENALINKS programme has no control.

We may also use third party IT tools to conduct online meetings and to facilitate virtual networking.

We recommend that users carefully read the relevant privacy policies of the social media and online meeting tools used. We recommend that users read the relevant privacy policies of

• Microsoft https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement;

• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/intl/en_be/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/protecting-user-data/

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy

carefully before using them. These explain each company’s policy of personal data collection and further processing, their use of data, users' rights and the ways in which users can protect their privacy when using those services.

The use of a third-party IT tool does not in any way imply that the MENALINKS programme endorses them or their privacy policies. In the event that one or more third party IT tools are occasionally unavailable, we accept no responsibility for lack of service due to their downtime.

What are your rights and how can you exercise them?

You have specific rights as a ‘data subject’ in particular the right to access, your personal data and to rectify them in case your personal data are inaccurate or incomplete. Where applicable, you have the right to erase your personal data, to restrict the processing of your personal data and to object to the processing. You can exercise these rights by sending a specific request to privacy@guidehouse.com or to info@menalinks.com.

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data, which is lawfully carried out pursuant to Article 5(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 on grounds relating to your particular situation.

You have consented to provide your personal data to the “MENALINKS” team for the present purposes under the conditions as defined in this Privacy Statement. You can withdraw your consent at any time by notifying Guidehouse Germany team by sending an email to info@menalinks.org. The withdrawal of your consent will not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out before you have withdrawn the consent.

Privacy policies of other websites

The MENALINKS programme website contains links to other websites. Our privacy policy and statement only apply to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, other privacy policies might apply. Guidehouse is not responsible for the content contained in other websites.

Changes to our privacy statement

Guidehouse keeps its privacy statement under regular review and places any updates on the linked web page.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about the privacy statement of the MENALINKS programme, or the personal data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@menalinks.org or privacy@guidehouse.com.

Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted regarding any questions related to this privacy statement:

Sandra Nguema
Stadsplateau 15
3521 AZ Utrecht

Phone: +31 306623333
E-mail: privacy@guidehouse.com
Website: www.guidehouse.com