Privacy Policy

This notice is published by the Liaison Office of MIS Foundation Terre des hommes (UIN: KOL008000056), Kolkata, India (“Tdh”, “we”, “us”). It applies when you use the WASHWise Android app, sign in to the WASHWise web portal (including WASH Darpan), or contact us about WASHWise.

Terre des hommes (Tdh) is an international non-governmental organisation working to improve the health and wellbeing of children, mothers and communities. In India, Tdh operates through its Liaison Office in Kolkata.

WASHWise is a digital public health tool developed for Tdh to support the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programme in public health facilities in West Bengal, India. It allows health staff to:

• complete facility assessments based on WHO/UNICEF WASH FIT and the national Kayakalp framework, monthly supervision checklists and water quality reports;
• keep a digital stock register for IPC consumables such as disinfectants, gloves and masks;
• report and track facility maintenance issues, with supporting photos or documents;
• complete IPC training modules and quizzes, and record facility-level training sessions for cleaning staff; and
• view aggregated performance dashboards (WASH Darpan).

A. When your account is created

Your account is created by an authorised Tdh administrator, not by you. The administrator records:

• full name and username;
• official email address and mobile number;
• gender;
• role (for example ICN, BMOH or CMOH) and, for administrators, department; and
• your place of posting: facility, block, district and state.

You can change your password in the app. We store only a one-way cryptographic hash of it, never the password itself. You can update your name, mobile number and gender under Profile > Edit Profile.

B. Records you create while using WASHWise

The records you submit are linked to your account and stored with the date and time:

• facility profile reports (including the ICN’s name and gender and staff counts by sex), WASH FIT and Kayakalp assessments, monthly supervision checklists and water quality reports;
• stock register entries;
• maintenance issues, comments and attachments (photos or documents you choose to upload);
• approval, review and “changes requested” actions on Kayakalp assessments;
• training progress, quiz answers and scores, daily quiz responses and certificates earned;
• which documents and training content you have opened; and
• in-app notifications sent to you.

C. Information about facility cleaning staff

When completing a facility profile or training report, an ICN may record each cleaning staff member’s name, gender, training attendance and quiz score. This is used only to monitor training coverage and plan further training at that facility.

D. Device and technical information

The mobile app automatically sends us:

• a random installation identifier created by the app (not a hardware or advertising ID);
• device type (Android or iOS), manufacturer and model, and app version;
• a push notification token issued by Google Firebase; and
• the date and time your device last connected and last synchronised.

Our servers also record the IP address of requests in security and audit logs, for example when you approve a Kayakalp assessment or change a record.

E. Crash reports

If the app crashes, Google Firebase Crashlytics collects the error details, device model, operating system version, app version, time of the crash and a Crashlytics installation identifier. Crash reports are not linked to your name, username or account.

The app contains no advertising and no marketing or behavioural analytics tools. The Google Advertising ID permission is removed from the app.

You can change notification permissions at any time in your device settings.

We process personal data on the basis of consent under Section 6 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act):

• Mobile app users give consent the first time they log in, after a short notice in English or Bengali that links to this policy. Consent is recorded with the date, time and version of the notice. If this notice changes significantly, you will be asked again.
• Web portal users give consent by signing in. The sign-in page states that by signing in you accept the Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy, with links to both. Your consent is recorded with the date, time and version each time you sign in.
• Facility cleaning staff give consent to the ICN, who records it in the app before their details are saved.

You can withdraw consent at any time from Settings > Privacy in the app or by writing to us. Because WASHWise cannot work without an account, withdrawing consent deactivates your account and your personal data is erased or anonymised as described in Section 11. Withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out.

We will not use personal data for any unrelated purpose without asking for your consent again.

• Your supervising health officers, limited by role and area: a BMOH sees their block, a CMOH their district, state officers the state. They see the records submitted for those facilities and who submitted them.
• Tdh programme and support staff with an administrator or support account, to manage users and facilities and provide support.
• Service providers (data processors) who act only on our written instructions, listed below.
• Legal requirements: where required by law, a court order or a lawful direction from a competent authority.

Tdh is responsible, as Data Fiduciary, for all personal data processed in WASHWise.

All WASHWise application data, including accounts, assessments, stock records, issues, attachments and training records, is stored on Microsoft Azure servers in the Central India region. A limited amount of technical data leaves India:

• Push notifications are delivered through Google Firebase Cloud Messaging. Google receives the push token and short operational messages (for example “Issue #123 updated”), never patient data.
• Crash reports are processed by Google Firebase Crashlytics, mainly in the United States.

These transfers are made under Google’s data processing terms and are permitted under Section 16 of the DPDP Act. We do not transfer data to any country restricted by the Government of India.

WASHWise is designed to work where connectivity is poor:

• Forms in progress, records waiting to upload and reference lists are kept in an encrypted database on your device, with the key held in the device’s secure keystore.
• When a connection is available, pending records upload automatically. You can also sync manually.
• If you enable Remember me, your username and password are saved in the secure keystore. Do not use this on a shared device.
• Logging out removes your session. Unsynchronised drafts stay encrypted on the device so they are not lost. Uninstalling the app deletes all WASHWise data from the device.
• Android system backups of app data are disabled, so WASHWise data is not copied to your Google account backup.

We keep personal data only as long as needed for the purposes in Section 6, unless the law requires longer. When a period ends, the data is deleted or anonymised. If immediate deletion is not technically possible, for example in a backup, it is isolated from further use until deleted.

Under the DPDP Act and other applicable law, you have the right to:

How to make a request

1. 1Email ind.dpo@tdh.org from your registered email address, or write to the postal address in Section 17.
2. 2Include your name, username and registered mobile number so we can verify your identity. Cleaning staff may ask through their ICN or contact us directly.
3. 3We acknowledge your request within 7 days and respond within 30 days.

We will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.

The web portal uses only strictly necessary cookies to keep you signed in securely. We use no advertising, analytics or tracking cookies, so no cookie banner is needed. The mobile app does not use cookies.

WASHWise is intended only for adult health staff and programme personnel. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child’s data has been entered, contact us and we will delete it.

If a personal data breach occurs, we will contain it, notify the Data Protection Board of India and affected persons as required by the DPDP Act and its Rules, and report cyber security incidents to CERT-In within the time required by law.

We may update this notice when WASHWise changes or the law requires. The updated version will show a new “Last updated” date. For significant changes, we will tell you in the app before they take effect.

For questions about this notice, to exercise your rights or to make a complaint, contact our Data Protection Officer:

For technical help with the app, such as login problems, use the Support section in the app.