HiA Collaboration Services Terms
Effective date: October 2026
These HiA Collaboration Services Terms apply when Hosted in Africa Group Limited (“HiA”, “we”, “us”) provides or agrees to provide a HiA Collaboration Service.
They supplement the general HiA Terms & Conditions. Where an accepted proposal, service agreement or other expressly agreed service-specific document conflicts with these Collaboration Services Terms, the expressly agreed service-specific document will control for that service. Where these Collaboration Services Terms conflict with the general HiA Terms & Conditions, these Collaboration Services Terms will control in relation to the Collaboration Service concerned.
1. HiA Collaboration Services
HiA Collaboration Services may include:
- HiA Workspace;
- Managed Digital Home;
- Dedicated Managed Digital Home;
- Independent Digital Home;
- HiA Federation;
- onboarding, migration, training, support and associated services;
- Community Benefit support where separately approved.
The service actually supplied will be the service described in the proposal, order, service agreement or other written confirmation accepted by HiA and the customer.
Information on the website is intended to help people and organisations understand the available routes. It does not by itself create a commitment to provide a particular configuration, infrastructure arrangement or service level.
2. Finding the appropriate service
HiA aims to provide the simplest service appropriate to the work, level of organisational separation, control and support required.
A HiA Workspace is normally intended for an individual or small team of up to five people within a shared HiA-managed collaboration environment.
A Digital Home is a distinct organisational environment with its own identity, members, permissions and governance arrangements. An organisation may require a Digital Home even where it has fewer than six members.
Uwezo 15, 30 and 50 are capacity reference points used to help identify an appropriate Managed Digital Home configuration. They are not status levels and do not represent different levels of organisational importance.
Dedicated Managed and Independent Digital Homes are assessed individually.
3. Customer organisation and authorised contacts
Where a service is supplied to an organisation, the organisation must identify an authorised contact or administrator who can make decisions about members, permissions, configuration, support requests and other matters relating to the service.
The organisation is responsible for ensuring that instructions given to HiA by its authorised representatives are valid and properly authorised.
The organisation is also responsible for deciding who should have access to its environment and for notifying HiA promptly when access should be changed or removed.
4. Members and access credentials
Each person must use their own authorised account unless HiA has expressly agreed another arrangement.
Members are responsible for protecting their passwords and authentication credentials and must not knowingly allow another person to use their account.
HiA may suspend or restrict access where this is reasonably necessary to protect security, privacy, the service, other members or other organisations.
5. Organisational identity and control
HiA Collaboration Services are designed so that organisations can retain meaningful identity, governance and responsibility while using shared or managed technical capability.
A Managed Digital Home remains a distinct organisational environment even where some supporting infrastructure or specialist services are shared.
An Independent Digital Home operates on infrastructure controlled or sourced by the customer, subject to the responsibilities agreed between the customer and HiA.
The precise division of operational, administrative and security responsibilities will be confirmed in the applicable proposal or service agreement.
6. Customer information and content
Customers and their members retain responsibility for the information and content they place within their environment.
HiA does not acquire ownership of customer files, organisational records or other customer content merely because HiA hosts, manages or supports the service.
Customers must ensure that they have the rights and lawful basis required to upload, store, share or otherwise process information through the service.
Additional privacy and data-processing arrangements may apply where HiA processes personal information on behalf of an organisation.
7. Privacy, security and data location
HiA designs and operates its services with privacy, security and organisational control as core considerations.
The actual primary hosting location, backup arrangements, relevant providers, administrative access and material responsibilities for a particular service will be confirmed where appropriate before or during onboarding.
HiA serves communities across Global Africa, including the continent, diaspora and international partners. Infrastructure arrangements may therefore develop over time to support appropriate privacy, resilience, performance and reach.
HiA does not guarantee a particular physical data location unless this has been expressly agreed for the service concerned.
8. Backups, recovery and continuity
Where backup or recovery arrangements form part of the service, their scope will be described in the applicable service documentation.
Backups are an important resilience measure but are not a substitute for appropriate organisational information-management practices.
Any specific recovery time, recovery point, retention period or guaranteed service level applies only where it has been expressly agreed in writing.
9. Maintenance and changes
HiA may carry out maintenance, security updates, platform upgrades and other work reasonably required to operate and protect the service.
Where practical, HiA will seek to minimise disruption and provide appropriate notice of material planned changes.
The applications, underlying open-source components and third-party services used to deliver HiA Collaboration Services may evolve over time. HiA may replace or change components where reasonably necessary to maintain security, supportability, sustainability or functionality, provided that the essential nature of the agreed service is not materially reduced without appropriate discussion with the customer.
10. Third-party and open-source components
HiA Collaboration Services may incorporate or depend upon open-source software and third-party infrastructure or services.
Those components may be subject to their own licences, terms and technical limitations.
HiA’s service consists of the configuration, integration, operation, support and service arrangements provided by HiA. Unless expressly stated otherwise, HiA does not claim ownership of third-party or open-source software incorporated into the service.
11. Federation and connection between organisations
HiA Federation allows otherwise separate environments to collaborate by consent where compatible and appropriate.
Federation does not merge the participating organisations or transfer their governance to HiA or to another participant.
The functions available through Federation may depend on application compatibility, versions, configuration and agreed data-sharing arrangements.
HiA will not promise universal cross-environment functionality where it has not been tested or agreed.
12. Fees and currency
The applicable service price will be the price stated in the accepted proposal, order or other service confirmation.
Public HiA Collaboration Services prices are stated in Rwandan francs (RWF).
Where the website shows an approximate equivalent in another currency, that figure is provided for convenience only and does not replace the controlling RWF tariff.
For international customers, the permitted payment currency, any applicable conversion and available payment methods will be confirmed before payment.
Payment methods may include card, bank transfer and mobile money where available through HiA’s payment providers.
Third-party payment providers may apply their own terms, exchange rates, fees or technical requirements.
13. Foundation and recurring service
Where a Digital Home includes a Foundation charge, the Foundation represents the agreed one-time work required to establish the environment and is charged once unless additional implementation work is later agreed.
Recurring service charges relate to the continuing service and capacity provided after establishment.
Monthly or per-person figures shown on the website may be annual-price equivalents intended to help comparison. They do not create a monthly payment arrangement unless such an arrangement has been expressly agreed.
14. Additional work
Migration, bespoke workflows, specialist integrations, additional storage, unusual communications requirements, extended training and other work outside the agreed service scope may be quoted separately.
HiA will not treat additional work as included merely because it is technically possible within the underlying platform.
15. Community Benefit
Community Benefit is an assessed HiA contribution intended to support qualifying community-serving organisations without creating an inferior technical service.
Where support is approved, the normal service value and any Community Benefit Credit should normally be shown separately.
Eligibility for one form or level of support does not create an automatic entitlement to the same support at renewal or for another service.
16. Community Builds
HiA is developing ways in which shared community capability and voluntary contributions may help support future Digital Home builds for schools and other community institutions.
Unless expressly confirmed in a specific programme or agreement, references to Community Builds describe a developing HiA direction and do not constitute a promise that a particular contribution will fund a particular organisation, build or service.
17. Responsible use
Members and organisations must use HiA Collaboration Services lawfully and responsibly.
They must not knowingly use the service to introduce malicious software, compromise security, interfere with other environments, infringe the rights of others or undertake activity prohibited by applicable law or the general HiA Terms & Conditions.
HiA may take proportionate action where reasonably necessary to protect the service, members, organisations or third parties.
18. Suspension and termination
The applicable proposal or service agreement may specify a service term, notice arrangements and any service-specific termination provisions.
HiA may suspend a service where reasonably necessary because of a serious security risk, unlawful use, material breach, non-payment or another substantial operational or legal reason.
Where practical and lawful, HiA will seek to discuss material service issues with the customer before permanent termination.
19. Data export and transition
HiA’s direction is to avoid unnecessary organisational lock-in.
Subject to payment of amounts properly due, applicable law, technical feasibility and any agreed service conditions, HiA will support reasonable export or transition of customer-controlled information when a service ends.
Any significant migration, transformation or technical assistance beyond standard export may be separately scoped and charged.
20. Service proposals and quotations
Website calculators, reference prices and pathway recommendations are planning tools.
A final proposal may reflect actual scope, migration, support, storage, communications, legal requirements, infrastructure arrangements and other matters relevant to the service.
The accepted proposal or service agreement records the service HiA has committed to provide.
21. Liability and general legal terms
The general HiA Terms & Conditions continue to apply to matters including intellectual property, legal compliance, force majeure, liability, governing law and jurisdiction except where an applicable service-specific agreement expressly provides otherwise.
Nothing in these Collaboration Services Terms excludes or limits any right or liability which cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
22. Changes to these Collaboration Services Terms
HiA may update these Collaboration Services Terms as its services develop.
Where a material change affects an existing paid service, HiA will apply the applicable contractual arrangements and provide appropriate notice where required.
Changes will not retrospectively alter an expressly agreed service commitment unless permitted by the applicable agreement or agreed with the customer.
23. Contact
HiA Collaboration Services are provided by:
Hosted in Africa Group Limited
Kimironko, Gasabo
Umujyi wa Kigali
Rwanda
Email: [email protected]
General HiA Terms & Conditions and the applicable Privacy Statement are available through the HiA website.
