UNODC SPARK

SPARK is the e-learning platform of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. These terms set out what you may do on it and what you may not: use the courses for your own learning and professional work, keep your account to yourself, treat other participants decently, and do not redistribute course material without permission. Certificates say that you completed a course; they are not a UNODC qualification or endorsement.

1. What SPARK is

SPARK (elearningunodc.org) is the e-learning platform of the Learning and Innovation Programme of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It offers self-paced courses, live sessions and learning resources, primarily for criminal justice practitioners and others working in UNODC's mandate areas.

By creating an account or using the platform you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, do not use the platform.

2. Your account

• Register with your own details and keep them accurate. An account is personal: do not share your password, and do not let anyone else use your account. Certificates are issued in the name on the account, so an account used by more than one person makes its certificates meaningless.
• Tell us at unodc-elearning@un.org if you believe someone else has gained access to your account.
• Some courses are open to anyone; others are restricted to a particular cohort, institution or programme, and access to them is granted by UNODC or by the partner running the course.

3. How you may use the platform

You may use SPARK for your own learning and for your professional work. You may not:

• use it for any unlawful purpose, or in a way that would bring the United Nations into disrepute;
• attempt to gain access to accounts, courses or data you have not been given access to;
• interfere with the platform's operation, including by automated retrieval of content at a scale that affects other users;
• upload malware, or content that is unlawful, defamatory, discriminatory or harassing;
• impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation.

4. Conduct towards other participants

Courses on SPARK deal with subjects — organised crime, corruption, drug policy, criminal justice — on which participants from different countries and systems hold different views. Discussion is welcome; contempt is not. In forums and other shared spaces, address the argument rather than the person, and do not post material that demeans anyone on grounds such as nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender or profession.

Do not repost elsewhere what another participant has written in a course space, and do not quote it outside the course in a way that identifies them, without their agreement.

5. Course material and intellectual property

Course material on SPARK — text, video, graphics, assessments — belongs to UNODC or to the partners who contributed it, unless a different licence is stated on the material itself.

You may:

• use the material for your own learning;
• apply what you have learned in your professional work;
• quote short passages with attribution to UNODC SPARK.

You may not, without written permission:

• republish, sell or redistribute course material;
• use it to run your own training offering, whether paid or unpaid;
• remove attributions or licence notices.

Where a course states that its material is published under an open licence, that licence governs and takes precedence over this section.

6. What you contribute

You keep the rights to what you write and upload. By posting it on SPARK you give UNODC permission to store it, display it to the people the course is shared with, and keep it as part of the course record. UNODC may remove contributions that breach these terms.

7. Certificates

A certificate records that you completed a specific course on SPARK on a specific date, under the conditions that course set. It carries a verification code so that anyone you show it to can confirm it is genuine.

A certificate is not:

• an academic qualification or an accredited award;
• a UNODC endorsement of you, your employer or your work;
• a licence, authorisation or professional accreditation of any kind.

Presenting a certificate as any of those, or altering one, is a misuse of it and a breach of these terms.

8. Availability

The platform is provided as it is. UNODC aims to keep it available and current, but does not guarantee uninterrupted access, and may change, suspend or withdraw courses and features. Courses are educational material, not professional or legal advice for a particular situation.

9. Suspension of accounts

UNODC may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms. Where circumstances allow, you will be told why and given an opportunity to respond first.

10. Privacy

What the platform does with your personal data is set out in the Privacy Policy, and the cookies it uses in the Cookie Policy. Both form part of your agreement with us.

11. Privileges and immunities

Nothing in these terms constitutes a waiver, express or implied, of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, including UNODC.

12. Changes to these terms

These terms may be updated. When they change materially, you will be asked to review the new version the next time you sign in. Continuing to use the platform after that means you accept the updated terms.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms, about a course, or about access: unodc-elearning@un.org.