Contract length: Six months, with possibility of extension
Hours: Full-time
Location: home-based until deployment to Goma, DRC is possible.
Travel: Some travel in DRC (up to 40% of the time)
Reporting to: Country Director
Application deadline: 7 October 2020*
*Due to the urgency of the vacancy, screening and interviews will commence immediately and the candidate can be selected at any stage before the closing date.
About Translators without Borders
Translators without Borders (TWB) envisions a world where knowledge knows no language barriers. TWB believes that everyone has the right to give and receive information in a language and format they understand. We work with nonprofit partners and a global community of language professionals to build local language translation capacity and raise awareness of language barriers.
We offer relocated staff in addition to salary:
- an innovative work environment with a diverse and passionate team
- location-specific hardship allowance
- accommodation
- a 3-month Rest & Recuperation cycle, including additional leave and travel
- 20 days of annual leave and 10 days of floating holidays
The role
The Language Services Coordinator manages the language team in DRC and is responsible for ensuring that TWB’s language services in DRC are effectively and efficiently managed, and are of the highest possible quality and timeliness.
The Language Services Coordinator reports to the Country Director and is a country program lead, together with the Programme Coordinator - Community Engagement with whom the selected candidate will cooperate and coordinate closely. The Language Services Coordinator will also collaborate closely with the remote Language Services Team who will provide support and ensure that the processes and technologies used in DRC are in line with our global strategy. The team currently consists of Language Leads for three Congolese languages and French (under recruitment), with additional language leads expected to join the team in order to respond to the new crisis in Equateur Province. A French Plain Language editor supports the team remotely.
Responsibilities
Management of in-country language leads
- Oversee, manage, empower, and recruit, DRC language services team members.
- Provide training and guidance on TWB systems, procedures and processes to staff and ensure that they are understood and adhered to.
- Build staff capacity and promote collaborative and supportive team dynamics.
Project Management, monitoring, reporting and quality assurance
- Plan and coordinate the delivery of all language services projects in DRC in close collaboration with TWB’s global Languages Services Team (LST) . This will include but is not limited to translations, transcriptions, plain language editing, subtitling and dubbing, glossary and terminology development, translator and interpreter training, language guidance documentation and awareness sessions,
- Comply with relevant and applicable procedures for quality assurance, and perform quality checks at various stages of the process to ensure quality and accuracy (proofreading, final eye)
- Work with the global Quality and Process Coordinator to improve the quality of language services.
- Ensure that TWB services are executed to the highest possible quality and timeliness standards.
- Anticipate needs and priorities and develop and promote new language services as needed.
- Contribute to improving monitoring, evidence and impact measurement, ensuring reporting processes feed into internal program development and external reporting
Partnership Management
- Develop and maintain excellent relationships with partner organizations including INGOs and UN agencies, managing the expectations of in-country partners
- Support the needs analysis of partners and proactively propose the most suitable language services, linked to research and community engagement team advice and outputs
- Monitor partner satisfaction
Technological tools
- Liaise with the Gamayun / AI Assistant team to coordinate the translation of chatbot content for DRC, Nigeria and Bangladesh
- Work with Gamayun / AI Assistant team and LST to develop, document and implement a workflow for quality assurance of translated chatbot content
- Provide support and training to language leads and ensure overall quality on chabot content across languages
Linguistic capacity development
- Maintain an overview of priority languages and dialects for TWB in DRC, and make this information accessible for humanitarian actors and colleagues in TWB
- Work with the global community team to develop, and oversee the implementation of, an engagement strategy to actively build up communities of active volunteer translators for priority languages
- Support the Language Leads in maintaining engagement with existing volunteers
- Work with the global Community and Quality team to design and implement an engagement strategy to ensure that TWB collaborates with language service providers and academics in DRC and beyond to mobilise the linguistic capacity needed to deliver on TWB’s objectives
- Oversee the development of glossaries, including harvesting and field testing key terms for partner organizations in accordance with the organizational terminology strategy.
Team dynamics
- Maintain open and professional relationships with the internal TWB team, TWB volunteers, partner agencies and donors
- Actively contribute to the development of TWB’s program strategy and reliably collaborate with towards the achievements of the country team’s deliverables.
- Participate in organization-wide discussions, contributing actively
- Contribute to a positive, innovative and supportive work environment
- Any other duties relevant to the job description as needed
The role will evolve during the course of the initial deployment as projects and activities develop so flexibility and the willingness to adapt to constantly changing circumstances is important.
Requirements
The Language Services Coordinator should be enthusiastic about increasing access to knowledge through language. The right candidate is an energetic team player and leader who agrees with TWB´s basic beliefs and values and who can work virtually with team members based throughout the world.
- 3-5 years of professional experience including project management and/or community management (recruiting, managing and engaging volunteers), preferably in humanitarian work or language industry
- Familiarity with the translation, language or content industries
- Experience with nonprofit organizations, especially in development or humanitarian contexts
- Excellent written and verbal English communication skills
- Fluency in French and English
- Proficient in standard Microsoft Windows applications
- Knowledge of translation technology tools (e.g. CAT, MateCat)
Desirable
- University Degree in studies related to linguistics, translation, communication or related subject
- Experience in disaster relief/humanitarian aid
- Knowledge and experience of quality assurance procedures for translation
- Experience in designing and delivering training
- Demonstrated social media experience
- Experience in leading teams of 5+ staff
Essential Aptitude
- Willingness to live and work in a volatile security context
- Good interpersonal skills; able to work well in a team-oriented, collaborative, cross-functional environment
- Strong ability to multitask, prioritize, and work independently
- Thorough, accurate, able to meet deadlines under time pressure, and able to work quickly and steadily in a focused manner
- Flexibility and can-do attitude
- Demonstrates initiative, persistence, ability to problem solve, and enthusiasm for learning
- Ability to mediate, negotiate, and resolve conflicts constructively
- Able to innovate to find creative solutions; willing to explore new technologies
- Resourceful
Core Values
Translators without Borders employees and volunteers are made of people who believe passionately about the value of this work and take personal responsibility for achieving the mission. Translators without Borders’ mission and organizational spirit embody the core values established in its strategic framework:
Excellence: As the leading voice for communicating humanitarian information in the right language, Translators without Borders is a leader in the translation industry and in the non-profit sector.
Integrity: Translators without Borders believes that every person, whether it’s the people who we serve, our volunteers or our staff, has value, deserves respect and has inherent dignity.
Empowerment: Translators without Borders believes in using language to empower people around the world to control their own development and destiny.
Innovation: Translators without Borders recognizes and celebrates the power of innovation to address humanitarian and crisis issues around the world.
Sustainability: Translators without Borders recognizes that meeting our mission necessitates establishment and maintenance of a solid financial and organizational infrastructure.
Tolerance: Our staff and volunteers are highly knowledgeable and skilled; value each other, our partner and our recipients; create a supportive work environment; and, conduct themselves professionally at all times.
Translators without Borders is an equal-opportunity employer, committed to diversity and inclusion, and encourages qualified candidates of all genders and from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.