PUAN Online Community Guidelines & Code of Conduct Policy
Welcome to the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network’s (PUAN) Online Engagement and Discussion Groups! This group provides alumni of the U.S. government-sponsored exchange and in-country intensive educational programs an opportunity to connect with fellow alumni, chapter leadership, exchange ideas, learn from each other, explore future opportunities, and be updated with all that is happening at PUAN.
We appreciate and value your response, suggestion, and input on our forum because it is a way for everyone to interact, discuss and contribute to the online community. To improve and guide the conversation, we have prepared the following set of guidelines for commenting, content publication and/or sharing.
When making moderation decisions, we will take these guidelines, as well as the context in which comments are made, into account. We also recognize that this is your community as much as it is ours and we share this information to be transparent about our moderation process and why certain content may be removed. Please note that PUAN does not control the content posted except as described below and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, or quality of such content.
To ensure that PUAN communities remain a collegial and safe place for all, members must adhere to the following set of guidelines and regulations
No Hate Speech, Bullying, Harassment, Threatening and Abusive Language
Make sure everyone feels safe. Bullying of any kind isn’t allowed. Please refrain from harassing or stalking any individual regardless of the race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender, or identity gender, identify or orientation. This includes all forms of harassment including physical, cyber, mental, or physiological.
Do not publish any content that is threatening, abusive, harassing, vulgar, obscene, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable. Please respect one’s views, opinions, and beliefs. Do not engage in personal attacks like the posting of inflammatory, irrelevant, off-topic messages or senseless abuse. We believe participants should focus on intelligently sharing content, discussing topics to further the conversation, and informing the online community of resourceful and constructive ideas.
Yes, to Healthy & Critical discussion
Critical and thoughtful discussion of U.S. and Pakistan relations is encouraged. Such content will not be deleted, and healthy debate is encouraged.
Although we have a hands-on approach to community engagement, we do sometimes miss problematic commenters. We appreciate your efforts to keep our community environment inviting, insightful and constructive. Let the conversations be quality ones!
No Promotions or Spam
Give more than you take to this group. Self-promotion, spam, and irrelevant links aren’t allowed. Spam content will be immediately removed, as well as content that is solely intended to advertise (e.g., house for rent, mobile for sale, etc.) to the online audience within our platform.
PUAN does not endorse donation drives, fundraising, business activity, or personal commerce being run by members in their personal capacity on PUAN chapter groups. However, job openings and certain other valuable opportunities are welcome additions to the discussion.
Using PUAN Logo and Disallowing Parallel Social Media Accounts
The alumni members including chapters leadership need to get permissions from USEFP-PUAN Communications Team for using of PUAN logos for non-budget activities. The alumni members including NEC chapters leadership, alumni small grant awardees are not permitted creation of parallel alumni social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Websites, Twitter, Flicker, You Tube) against PUAN official accounts. Failure to comply shall result into violation of code of conduct and PUAN membership. PUAN has right to close all unofficial accounts under Intellectual Property Rights.
Respect Everyone’s Privacy
Do not collect or store personal data about other users. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact PUAN staff immediately.
Being part of this group requires mutual trust. Authentic, expressive discussions make groups great, but may also be sensitive and private. What’s shared in the group should stay in the group.
Always Ask for Consent
Taking or sharing pictures and videos of other participants without their consent is strictly prohibited.
Be Kind and Courteous
We’re all in this together to create a welcoming environment. Respect difference of opinions and encourage intelligent conversations.
Code of Conduct Policy
This policy implies to all Pakistani alumni who attend or conduct PUAN programs, projects, initiatives, and outreach efforts across the country. The salient features of this policy are as follow:
- Any misconduct that negatively impacts the interests of the U.S. Mission in Pakistan and PUAN; failure to comply with financial reporting requirements for chapter activities, alumni small grants, and all other opportunities including travel reimbursements claims; using one’s position in PUAN chapters leadership for personal gain; and abuse or harassment of any kind of other members of the network is strictly prohibited and grounds for cancellation of PUAN membership.
- The alumni members including chapters leadership need to get permissions from USEFP-PUAN Communications Team for using of PUAN logos for non-budget activities. The alumni members including NEC chapters leadership, alumni small grant awardees are not permitted creation of parallel alumni social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Websites, Twitter, Flicker, You Tube) against PUAN official accounts. Failure to comply shall result into violation of code of conduct and PUAN membership. PUAN has right to close all unofficial accounts under Intellectual Property Rights.
- Alleged conduct violations by chapter members will be reviewed by the USEFP-PUAN Office and U.S. Mission in Pakistan about any punishment, including warnings, suspension, and revocation from the Network.
- Failure to comply with financial reporting requirements for chapter activities and small grants automatically shall bar the member from applying for additional Network funding and upcoming leadership elections.
- Each member shall be bound to digitally sign this code of conduct policy once they avail themselves to any PUAN opportunity including, but not limited to, chapters leadership, chapter activities, alumni small grants, masterclasses, internships, regional engagements, conferences, chapter elections including voting, documentation and campaigning, interest groups, honorary counselors, and travel reimbursements.
- The U.S. Mission in Pakistan and the USEFP-PUAN Office shall be responsible for the final decision regarding punishments for the above-mentioned violations against any member in the network.
Reporting Mechanism
- If PUAN members or chapter leadership learns of alleged misconduct that is in violation of these guidelines, he/she must inform the Chapter Coordinator of their respective chapter at https://pakusalumninetwork.org/puan-chapters.
- The Embassy leadership and USEFP senior staff, shall determine how PUAN will investigate the allegation. As part of this effort, Chapter Honorary Counselors may be asked (but necessarily) to:
- Determine who will participate in the investigation.
- Gather evidence relevant to the complaint.
- Document every step
- Encourage confidentiality. Information is disclosed strictly on a need-to-know basis. The identity of the complainant is usually revealed to the parties involved during the investigation.
- Write a report with an assessment of investigation findings.
- Based on the assessment, if a PUAN member is found to have violated the Code of Conduct, then Embassy and USEFP-PUAN staff may recommend revocation of his/her membership for a specific period or permanently depending upon the severity and/or frequency of the incident.
Conclusion
Please note that PUAN does not control the content posted on social media except as described above and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, or quality of such content. Although PUAN adopts a proactive and hands-on approach to community engagement and content moderation, there exists the possibility that problematic content may be missed due to the large number of members and frequency of posts. Therefore, it is the responsibility of each member to flag such content immediately for the leadership so that appropriate action may be taken.
We appreciate your efforts to keep our community environment inviting, insightful, and safe for all its members.
Disclaimer: Finally, the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this close group solely belongs to those of the authors and respective group member who expresses it, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of PUAN USEFP and U.S. Mission in Pakistan.
