1. What petitions are for

Ardent Africa petitions exist to give people a clear, public way to ask a decision-maker to act on an issue that matters to their community. You may start a petition on almost any issue, share personal stories, mobilise supporters, and respectfully disagree with others.

Petitions are free. Ardent Africa never takes a fee for a petition and never handles money on a petition’s behalf.

2. Be honest and accurate

Supporters and decision-makers trust petitions to be truthful. You must:

• Describe the issue and your ask accurately, without deliberately misleading claims

• Not impersonate another person, organisation, or public official

• Not present unverified claims about elections, public health, or civic matters as established fact

• Be willing to correct or substantiate a claim if asked by our moderation team

3. Prohibited content

Petitions, comments, and supporter voices must NOT contain:

• Hate speech or attacks on people based on age, colour, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, medical condition, nationality, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status

• Harassment, bullying, stalking, threats, or content intended to intimidate or degrade a person

• Private personal information about a private individual (home address, phone number, ID numbers) — sometimes called doxxing

• Incitement to violence, or glorification of violent or terrorist groups

• Defamation, impersonation, plagiarism, or infringement of intellectual property

• Pornographic content, spam, or fraudulent links

4. Targeting decision-makers, not private individuals

Petitions should target the person or body with the power to make the change — an official, an institution, or an organisation acting in a public capacity.

Do not target private individuals who hold no relevant authority, and never publish a decision-maker’s private contact details on the petition page. Contact emails you provide are kept private and used only to help you deliver your petition.

5. Signer privacy

A signer’s email address is never shown publicly. Petition pages show the signature count and may show signer names, regions, and comments where signers chose to share them.

When you export signatures or generate a delivery packet, you receive supporter data to advance the petition. You must use it only for that petition and in line with our Privacy Policy and applicable data-protection law.

6. How we moderate

We use a combination of automated detection and human review. Anyone can report a petition or comment that may break these guidelines.

Reports are typically reviewed within 24 hours on working days. Depending on the issue, we may remove content, ask you to verify or correct a claim, restrict promotion, or, for serious or repeated violations, suspend an account.

7. Declaring victory and updates

Declare victory only when a real, tangible change has happened — even a partial win is worth celebrating, but do not claim a victory that did not occur.

Keep your supporters informed with honest updates. People who signed are trusting you with their voice; treat that trust with care.

8. Reporting and contact

If you see a petition or comment that breaks these guidelines, use the report option on the petition page. If you believe your content was actioned in error, you may contact our support team for review.