Trust & participation

Terms of Use.

The terms that apply when you register for or take part in a SHENGO consultation, as the platform actually operates during its testing phase.

1. What SHENGO is

SHENGO is a structured policy consultation platform. Registered participants, including government officials, domain experts, civil society representatives, and citizens, can submit analysis and positions on active consultations. Submissions inform an AI assisted process that produces a structured summary for the ministry or organisation that commissioned the consultation. SHENGO is not a petition platform, a social media service, or a lobbying tool.

2. Who may register

Registration is open to Citizens, Civil Society representatives, Domain Experts, Policy Makers, and, where invited, Donor organisations, using SHENGO's current role names. Registration requires a valid email address or sign in account. SHENGO may decline or flag a registration it cannot reasonably verify.

3. Participant obligations

By registering and submitting to SHENGO, you agree to:

Provide accurate information. The name, email, and institutional affiliation you provide must be accurate and current.
Submit in good faith. Your submissions should represent genuine analysis or positions. Attempting to manipulate results, misrepresenting an affiliation you do not have, or flooding the system with duplicate submissions is prohibited.
Respect other participants' privacy. You agree not to attempt to access or expose another participant's identity or submission beyond what the platform itself shows you.
Respect the scope. Your submission should respond to the consultation question. Off topic, abusive, or discriminatory content may be excluded from a summary and may result in account suspension.
Not attempt to interfere with the platform. You agree not to probe, disrupt, or attempt to circumvent SHENGO's security or access controls.

4. Your submission content

You retain ownership of the intellectual content of your submission. By submitting, you grant SHENGO a non exclusive, royalty free licence to process your submission and include it, or a summary drawing on it, in the AI assisted output delivered to the commissioning organisation. Your submissions are not shared with other participants, and are not shown to the commissioning organisation or the public with your name attached. SHENGO does not independently fact check the content of your submission.

5. The AI assisted synthesis process

When a consultation reaches its review point, an AI system reads the submissions received and produces a structured draft summary. SHENGO's design intent is that every draft summary is reviewed and confirmed by a qualified human before it is treated as final or shared with the commissioning organisation, and SHENGO is actively working to make sure this check is fully and reliably enforced across the platform. A summary is advisory only, it is not a binding policy decision, and the commissioning organisation retains full discretion over how it is used. AI assisted output may contain errors or omissions. If you believe your submission was materially misrepresented, contact contact@shengo.com.et with the consultation name and date of your submission.

6. Data and privacy

How your personal data is collected, stored, and used is described in SHENGO's Privacy Notice, which this section incorporates by reference. Read it before registering.

7. Account suspension and termination

SHENGO may suspend or terminate an account that provides false registration information, submits abusive or discriminatory content, attempts to manipulate or disrupt the platform, or otherwise violates these Terms. You may ask for your account and personal data to be deleted at any time by contacting contact@shengo.com.et, subject to the limits described in the Privacy Notice for material already used in a delivered summary.

8. Platform availability

SHENGO is provided as a pilot service while it is being built out and tested. There is no guarantee of uptime, data preservation, or continuity of service, and the platform may be changed, paused, or discontinued with reasonable notice.

9. Limitation of liability

Pending legal review. This section is not yet finalised. As a starting point under discussion, not a confirmed position: to the extent Ethiopian law allows, SHENGO and its operators would not be liable for inaccuracies in AI assisted output, for a government or commissioning body's decisions based on that output, for data loss due to technical failure, or for indirect damages. This has not been confirmed by qualified legal counsel and should not be relied on until it is.

10. Governing law

Pending confirmation. These Terms are intended to be governed by the laws of Ethiopia, with disputes referred to Ethiopian courts in Addis Ababa. This is a starting assumption, not a confirmed legal position, and will be corrected here if legal review finds otherwise.

11. Changes to these terms

SHENGO may update these Terms as the platform develops. Material changes will be communicated to registered participants by a reasonable method, such as an email or an in app notice, and are versioned, dated, and announced on this page before they take effect. Continued use of the platform after an update takes effect means you accept the updated Terms.

Status. SHENGO is in its testing phase. This is terms of use version 0.1, a first draft written to describe the platform honestly as it actually operates today, replacing an earlier internal draft that had described planned future infrastructure as if it were already in place. It has not yet been reviewed by qualified legal counsel and should not be treated as final, particularly sections 9 and 10. Version 1.0 will be adopted once that review is complete.

Contact

Platform enquiries and data requests: contact@shengo.com.et