Terms of Service

1. Who We Are and These Terms

The Sparks Impact Fellowship NPC (“Sparks”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is a non-profit company registered in South Africa. These terms govern your use of our website at the-sparks.io and your participation in the Sparks Impact Fellowship (the “Fellowship”), whether as a fellow, a host organisation, a funder, or other interested party.

By using the website, applying to the Fellowship, or signing an agreement with us, you accept these terms. If you sign a separate written agreement with us, such as a fellow’s employment or consulting contract or a host organisation’s placement agreement, that agreement prevails over these terms wherever the two conflict. These terms should be read together with our Privacy Policy.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, and the contracting entity is The Sparks Impact Fellowship NPC.

We may update these terms from time to time. The updated version will be posted on our website with a revised date, and where a change is material we will take reasonable steps to tell you directly. Continued use of the website or the Fellowship after an update means you accept the updated terms.

2. Using This Website

You may use this website to learn about Sparks, apply to the Fellowship, and contact us. When you use it, you agree not to:

• misuse the website or try to gain unauthorised access to it or to our systems;
• introduce malicious code, or collect content or data from the website by automated means;
• impersonate another person or organisation, or submit information you know to be false or misleading; or
• use the website for any unlawful purpose.

The content on this website is general information about our work. We take care to keep it accurate and current, but we do not warrant that it is complete or error-free. The website may link to third-party sites that we do not control and are not responsible for. We may change, suspend, or withdraw any part of the website at any time.

The website’s text, design, logo and other content belong to Sparks or its licensors. You may view the website and share links to it, but you may not copy or reuse its content for commercial purposes without our written permission.

3. The Sparks Impact Fellowship and Our Role

The Fellowship develops early-career talent and places fellows with impact organisations, and from time to time implements programmes on which fellows, alumni or students are placed. Sparks recruits and selects fellows, supports and trains them, and places them with host organisations. How each party relates to Sparks is set out below.

3.1 Fellows

Fellows who are South African citizens or residents are employed by Sparks under a written employment contract. Participants who are not South African nationals are engaged by Sparks as independent consultants under a written consulting agreement. Placing a fellow with a host organisation does not make the fellow an employee or contractor of the host.

3.2 Host organisations

Host organisations contract with Sparks under a placement or project agreement. For placement agreements, the host directs the fellow’s day-to-day work within the agreed scope, provides a safe and respectful workplace and reasonable supervision, and pays Sparks the agreed fee. Sparks remains the fellow’s employer or contracting party and handles payroll, statutory contributions, and fellow support.

3.3 Funders

Funders support the Fellowship financially or in kind. Funding does not make a funder the employer, principal, or agent of any fellow, and funders do not direct Sparks’ selection of fellows or the day-to-day running of the programme, unless a written funding agreement says otherwise.

Sparks acts as principal in its own right and not as an agent for any fellow, host organisation, or funder.

4. Eligibility and Applications

To apply as a fellow you must be 18 or older and provide true, complete, and current information. Participants must have the legal right to work in South Africa or, if they are not South African nationals, be able to be lawfully engaged as consultants.

Submitting an application is not an offer of a place. Sparks has the discretion to accept or decline any application, and we are not required to give reasons. We assess applications against published criteria, and our selection process reflects our commitment to redress and inclusion, as explained in our Privacy Policy.

Fellows are expected to complete the programme period set out in their agreement. Host organisations must be lawfully operating organisations with a social or environmental impact purpose. Sparks may decline or end a host relationship where this is not the case.

5. Fees and Payment

5.1 Host organisations

Host organisations pay Sparks a fee for each placement or project, in the amount and on the schedule set out in the placement or project agreement or quote. Sparks invoices the host, and invoices are payable within the period stated on the invoice. Fees are stated exclusive of VAT unless the agreement says otherwise. Changes to a placement, such as a change in weekly hours, are recorded in a written addendum with a proportional change in fee.

If an invoice is not paid on time, Sparks may suspend the placement after written notice until the account is brought up to date.

5.2 Fellows

Sparks does not charge fellows to apply to or take part in the Fellowship. No person is authorised to ask a fellow or applicant for payment in connection with a placement.

5.3 Refunds and cancellation

A host organisation may cancel a placement before it starts by giving written notice as set out in their agreement, and Sparks will refund any fee already paid. Once a placement has started, fees for the period already worked are payable and are not refundable.

If Sparks ends a placement early for a reason other than the host’s breach, Sparks will refund the fee for the unused period or, where possible, offer an alternative fellow.

6. Conduct

Everyone involved in the Fellowship is expected to act honestly, respectfully, and professionally.

6.1 Fellows

Fellows must:

• comply with their agreement with Sparks, Sparks’ policies, and the host organisation’s reasonable workplace rules;
• keep confidential any non-public information they learn about Sparks, a host organisation, or a funder;
• protect personal information in line with POPIA; and
• not discriminate against, harass, or bully anyone, or put anyone’s safety at risk.

6.2 Host organisations

Host organisations must keep to the agreed scope of work, provide a workplace that meets health and safety law, treat fellows with dignity, and not discriminate against or harass them. A host that wants to employ or engage a fellow directly during or after a placement should communicate this to Sparks first to follow the placement agreement.

6.3 Removal from a placement or the programme

Sparks may remove a fellow from a placement or from the Fellowship for serious misconduct, dishonesty, harassment, breach of confidentiality, or repeated failure to meet reasonable expectations. Except in serious cases, Sparks will first tell the fellow what the concern is and give a fair chance to respond. For fellows who are employees, Sparks follows applicable labour law. A host organisation that has a concern about a fellow should raise it with Sparks, which is responsible for performance- and employment-related matters. A host may not dismiss or discipline a fellow itself.

Sparks may end a host organisation’s participation if the host breaches these terms or its placement agreement.

7. Outcomes and No Guarantees

Sparks does not guarantee that any applicant will be selected, that any fellow will be placed with a particular host organisation, or that any fellow will find employment or earn a particular income after the Fellowship. Outcomes depend on many factors, including the fellow’s own effort and the labour market.

Sparks likewise does not guarantee particular results for a host organisation from a placement. Fellows are early-career professionals who are learning, and their work is provided in good faith without warranty of any specific outcome.

8. Intellectual Property and Content

8.1 Sparks materials

Sparks owns, or has the right to use, its training materials, frameworks, templates, name, logo, and website content. Participants receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use them for the purposes of the Fellowship, and may not sell or share them for commercial purposes without our written permission.

8.2 Work created during a placement

Unless the placement agreement says otherwise, intellectual property in work a fellow creates for a host organisation as part of the placement belongs to the host organisation. Fellows keep their own skills, general knowledge, and any materials they owned before the placement. Sparks may keep and reuse its own general know-how and methods.

8.3 Stories, testimonials, and photos

We may feature fellows, alumni, host organisations, trainers and funders in stories, testimonials, case studies, and photos on our website and social media. We do so only with the consent of the person or organisation concerned, we ask the person featured to review how they are presented before we publish, and consent can be withdrawn for future use at any time by emailing team@the-sparks.io. Withdrawal does not require us to recall material already published in print or distributed, but we will remove it from our own channels within a reasonable time.

Host organisations and funders agree that Sparks may state that they work with the Fellowship, and may use their name and logo for that purpose, unless they tell us otherwise in writing.

9. Ending a Placement

A fellow may end their participation by giving the notice required by their employment or consulting agreement. A host organisation may end a placement by giving written notice as per their contract. Sparks may end a placement on written notice if the host breaches these terms or its placement agreement, including by failing to pay fees, failing to provide a safe workplace, or mistreating a fellow.

Either party may end a placement immediately for serious breach or serious misconduct by the other, after giving written notice of the reason.

When a placement ends, fees for the period already worked remain payable, any unused prepaid fees are dealt with under section 5.3, and each party must return the other’s property and materials. Provisions on confidentiality, intellectual property, liability, and disputes continue to apply after a placement ends.

10. Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for fraud, or any right you have under consumer protection law.

Subject to that, Sparks is not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit or opportunity. Sparks’ total liability to a host organisation for any claim connected with a placement is limited to the fees that host has paid for that placement. The website and its content are provided “as is”.

Each party is responsible for loss to third parties caused by its own breach of these terms, negligence, or unlawful conduct, and agrees to indemnify the other against third-party claims arising from it. Host organisations are responsible for the safety of the workplace they provide and for the way they direct a fellow’s day-to-day work.

11. Disputes

If you have a dispute with Sparks, please raise it in writing using the details in section 12. We will try to resolve it informally and in good faith within 30 days. If that does not work, the parties will refer the dispute to senior representatives and then to mediation before starting legal proceedings, except where urgent relief is needed.

Nothing in this section limits an employee’s right to approach the CCMA, a bargaining council, or the Labour Court, or anyone’s right to complain to the Information Regulator or to ask a court for urgent relief.

These terms are governed by the laws of South Africa. Subject to the above, the courts of the Western Cape Division of the High Court, Cape Town, have jurisdiction over any dispute that cannot be resolved in this way.

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply. A delay in enforcing a right is not a waiver of it. These terms, together with any signed agreement and our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Sparks on these subjects.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions about these terms, please contact:

• The Sparks Impact Fellowship NPC
• Email: team@the-sparks.io
• Physical address: Church House, 1 Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town, 8001

Questions about how we handle personal information should go to our Information Officer, using the details in our Privacy Policy.