Request for Proposals: Translating Agency at Girl Effect

Girl Effect is seeking an organizational partner to provide routine translation, subtitling and voice-over recording support for two key projects: TEGA (Technology Enabled Girls Ambassadors) and Girls Connect.
The partner must be available to start in October 2017.

About TEGA
TEGA (Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors) is a technology driven peer-to-peer research product and Girl Effect’s potential solution to gaining accurate insight into a girl’s life. Through TEGA, Girl Effect works towards fulfilling its ambition to empowering the hardest to reach demographic in the world - adolescent girls living in poverty. But reaching adolescent girls in poverty is only half of the challenge. The bigger half of the challenge is creating a research method that gives girls a safe space where they can express themselves and speak honestly about their lives, dreams and the real barriers they face. Conventional research methodologies deployed to understand girls - often
western, adult strangers arriving at her doorstep, asking intimate questions at a moment’s notice - creates an environment where they are unlikely to feel comfortable speaking freely. TEGA uses certified data-collection techniques and mobile technology to teach girls aged 18-24 how to collect meaningful, honest data about their world in real time. The data they collect can be translated and analyzed within 15 minutes of being uploaded. In collaboration with tech and research partners, GEN maintains the TEGA app, monitoring connectivity, designing surveys and conducting analysis and report writing. However, GEN does not have adequate internal resources to translate incoming content from the field from Hausa, Kanuri and potentially other languages to English for a successfully and efficiently analysis of research findings.

About Girls Connect
Girl Effect prides itself on trailblazing new and innovative approaches to accelerate change for girls. Girls Connect is the newest initiative to be born from our innovation lab. In 2016, Girl Effect partnered with one of Africa’s largest IT companies, iSON Group, combining the power of Girl Effect’s expertise with global, private sector technology and processes. Together, we’ve created a new, never before tested, approach that puts girls in the driving seat of their own life experiences. Girls Connect is a unique platform that delivers a personalized, anonymous and confidential experience for girls, combining access to on-demand content and on-demand conversations via a digital platform. Girls control what entertaining and informative story they select on an IVR platform, but their experience doesn’t stop there. After the story girls are connected to one of iSON’s call center agents, who we’ve trained to transform into role models, who help girls make sense of what they’ve listened to and think about how to apply critical life lessons to their own life.  Girls Connect is aimed as a service for girls 14 – 16, with a larger audience of girls 14 – 19. Taking Girls Connect to Scale A successful 4-week pilot (Phase 1) was conducted from July to August 2016 followed by a successful 8-week pilot (Phase 2) conducted from April to May 2017, both in Kano state. During Phase 2, Girls Connect received over 44,000 calls – 5 times more than expected – from nearly 8,000 unique users. We’ve also gained global interest, most recently being featured in TIME. Now is the time to scale Girls Connect. The service offered content on topics such as safety, relationships, social media and money. Girls Connect has been designed from the beginning with the aim to reach girls at scale. In July 2017, we began a new, exciting phase (Phase 3) moving from prototype testing to designing for scale across Nigeria with our 1 Million
Unheard Voices and Choices campaign. Our campaign will kick-off in January 2018 and will run for 6 months across Kano, Edo and Oyo states and will offer the service in Hausa, Pidgin and Yoruba connecting 1 million calls to content and conversations.

Scope of Work
Girl Effect will require continuous translations and voice-over of content in a format that is clear, girl-friendly and relevant to girls in the larger locations. All voice-over of content is expected to be by females between 20 and 35 years; who have a warm, friendly and clear voice. For the initial stage, translations will be made into Hausa, Kanuri, Pidgin English and Yoruba. Voice-over artists and translators are expected to be fluent speakers of at least one of these languages. Additional languages might be added later.

Translation

• Translate all content and scripts from English to local languages and/or vice versa.
• Timely supply and management of translators (English to local language and local language to English) with capacity for at least one specific local language as may be required by GEN. Initial languages required are Kanuri, Hausa, Pidgin English and Yoruba.
• For Girls Connect initial translations will comprise 16 stories and 16 role model scripts of approximately 3 pages each to be translated into Hausa, Yoruba and Pidgin English within a timeframe of 5 days maximum.

Voice over

• Provide female voice-over artists as required by GEN. GEN team would prefer separate individuals handle translation and recording.
• Timely supply and management of recording artists with capacity for at least one specific local language as may be required by GEN. Initial languages required are Hausa, Pidgin English and Yoruba.
• For Girls Connect all recordings of translated material should be completed within a timeframe of 10 days.

Project Management

• Work with GEN to ensure translations and recording artists are of high quality.
• Manage translators’ timesheet, payment and ensure efficient payment system.
• Liaise with GEN to equip translators with internet services, workspace and laptops for access to the content hub for TEGA translations. In some situations, the translating agency might be required to provide translators with computers

Deliverables

• Provide translators proficient in translating from English to local language and local language to English. Initial language required include Kanuri, Hausa, Pidgin English and Yoruba. Given the short-time frame for translations, Girl Effect request more than one translator will be required for each language.
• Provide female voice-over artists to record in Yoruba, Pidgin English, and/or Hausa in a friendly, warm and clear voice.
• Manage translation and recording of content within the prescribed timeline, and account for translators’ and voice-over artists’ performance. This includes submission of all translations and recordings within the agreed deadline; training/induction of translators at the GEN office; provision of laptops, earphones, and fast reliable internet.
• Timely submission of invoice along with timesheet, and all other documents required for accounting purposes to GEN for payment.
• Manage payment of the translators’ fee after each month’s work timely
• Ensure that all translations don’t lose original meaning and remain within context
• Ensure that all translations have no abbreviations, summaries or missing information

Requirement for Translators

All translators should have the following:

• Proficiency in the English language (written and spoken)
• Fluency in at least one of the required local languages. Initially translations will be required in Pidgin English, Kanuri, Hausa and Yoruba
• Ability to provide translations that retain the meaning and context of the original text
• Excellent understanding of grammar and punctuation
• Previous experience as a translator will be an added advantage. All translators will be required to provide a sample of previous work
• Translators and voice over artists to be available for work on weekdays and weekends and where possible should be available at short notice. GEN will ensure key dates are mapped out ahead of time as much as possible.
• Travel will be required for some translators. GEN will try to provide details of travel periods ass soon as the information is available.
• The organization may be required to adopt and manage translators and voice-over artists that have worked on previous projects to retain institutional knowledge based on GEN sign off.