Bura / Babur Community Team Leader at Translators without Borders (TWB)

Contract length: until the end of March 2019, with the possibility of extension/ National post

Hours: Part-time (50%)

Travel: some travel to field locations in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states

The Role

• Reporting to: Program Manager
• The Bura / Babur Community Team Leader will be responsible for delivering high-quality Bura language translation, terminology development, and training services to humanitarian organizations in north-east Nigeria and will provide research, administrative and logistical support to other TWB activities as needed.
• The postholder will lead on recruiting, capacity building, and managing a community of translators in Bura, from among qualified translators and suitably skilled bilinguals in Nigeria and the wider region.
• The role will identify capacity building needs and coordinate training and support measures to respond to them.

Responsibilities

Recruitment and management of the Bura language team:

• Research and report on the existing capacity of professional language service providers (LSPs) for Bura in north-eastern Nigeria, identifying their training and support needs.
• Recruit a team of qualified translators and suitably skilled bilinguals for training and recruitment into a TWB community of translators (posting vacancies, shortlisting, interviewing, reaching out to universities, LSPs, community groups).
• Test Bura applicant translators to ensure high-quality applicants are selected.
• Train and coach new Bura translators to improve their skills and ensure they know how to use TWB translation platforms and glossaries.
• Manage and support the Bura language pool of translators to encourage exchanges of experience, sharing of learning, mutual support and a sense of belonging to a TWB team
• Manage the volunteer and translator incentive program.

Management of translation and language services in Bura:

• Delivers high quality and timely translations to and from Bura, transcription and audio recordings in Bura language.
• Liaise between partner organizations, Bura translators and TWB’s wider translation team to take full responsibility for delivering high-quality translations on time.
• Lead for Bura in the provision of multilingual terminology support to humanitarian partner organizations, including terminology harvesting, collaborative development of sectoral terminology in relevant languages, and field testing.
• Support TWB in the implementation of field activities, including support to multilingual feedback mechanisms and communication with communities, support to language-sensitive rapid response, comprehension studies, needs assessments and wider research on language.
• Coordinate and co-facilitate training activities, including liaising with partner organizations on needs, timings and venue; identifying suitable trainers with the right skills and languages; collecting evaluation forms; and maintaining a register of trained Bura translators and interpreters.
• Make sure that alternative workflows are in place and available to members of the Bura translator pool who cannot access and/or use TWB’s web-based translation platform.
• Research, contribute to and/or write language factsheets guides, dos and don’ts, etc.
• Participate in research and monitoring, evaluation and learning activities.
• Test interpreters to assess language competency levels.
• Identify needs for new translation technology tools and assist with the development and roll-out of new tools as they emerge (including online testing modules and audio translation).
• Support a peer network of interpreters and translators in north-east Nigeria.

Other activities:

• Provide administrative and logistical support to TWB’s activities in Nigeria as needed.
• Support TWB in scaling up operations in Nigeria, particularly with recruiting other language team leaders.
• Attend occasional meetings of humanitarian organizations to relay TWB messaging and report on discussions or decisions.
• Produce regular reports.
• Any other duty as required.

Qualifications

• Professional translation or interpreting qualifications and experience
• Excellent quality written and spoken Bura
• Good level of written and spoken English
• Resourcefulness and ability to innovate to find creative solutions
• Integrity and professional verbal and written presentation
• Team player; experience managing volunteers a plus
• Previous experience with non-profit organizations, particularly in development and/or humanitarian action, a plus
• Training experience a plus
• Familiar with office management (financial, logistics) routine is a plus
• Experience of Computer Assisted Translation tools
• Track record of working with and managing volunteers and small teams

Requirements

• 1+ year experience in translation or interpretation into Bura
• Experience in team work management/facilitation
• Mother tongue Bura speaker with superb Bura writing skills
• Willingness to travel to insecure locations for work

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 is 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