Country: Bangladesh
Closing date: 06 May 2018
The mission of Translators without Borders is to provide people access to vital knowledge in their language through translation, training of translators, building translation capacity in underserved languages, and raising awareness globally of language barriers.
Contract length: until the end of July 2018, with the possibility of extension
Hours: Full-time
Location: Cox’s Bazar - Bangladesh
Travel: Minimal
Reporting to: Bangladesh Programme Manager
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. The US-based non-profit provides people access to vital knowledge in their language by connecting non-profit organizations with a professional community of translators, building local language translation capacity, and raising awareness of language barriers. Originally founded in 1993 in France (as Traducteurs sans Frontières), TWB translates millions of words of life-saving and life-changing information a year.
Background
Following a series of attacks on police and military posts in northern Rakhine on 25 August by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and subsequent security operations by the Myanmar Military, an estimated 688,000 Rohingya women, men and children have fled into Bangladesh. Most have sought refuge in or around the border town of Cox’s Bazar. This is the largest mass refugee movement in the region in decades. An unknown additional number remain stranded, internally displaced or on the move in different parts of the three northern townships of Rakhine. This follows a similar pattern of events in 2016, when armed attacks on police personnel led to a major security crackdown which resulted in an estimated 87,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.
To best respond to the affected population’s information and communications needs, the Communicating with Communities (CwC) working group will implement a Common Services Model (CSM) with a working group coordinator funded by IOM. The CSM will be coordinated by the CwC technical working group, and will facilitate the provision of effective and timely messaging, the collection and analysis of feedback, and advocacy for sectoral and partner action based on this feedback.
TWB will be providing language support as part of the CSM and will, in parallel, support individual agencies with language expertise and services.
Funding has been secured for a consortium with BBC Media Action and Internews to support affected people and the humanitarian community.
The Role
The Evidence and Impact Officer is responsible for ensuring that results-based planning is integrated into program design and that research is used to inform and improve the provision of language services throughout the response. S/he will seek opportunities to ensure impact measurement, documentation, and dissemination of lessons learnt with the intention of improving communication practices in humanitarian organizations across the response.
The Evidence and Impact Officer will report to the Bangladesh Program Director and will work in close partnership with the global TWB MEAL Manager.
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.
Responsibilities
Evidence gathering and impact measuring
Develop innovative tools and processes for tracking the outputs of various language-related activities, including, but not limited to: translations of documents and messages, advocacy, training, and capacity building of interpreters.
Liaise with a wide-range of organizations to discover and gather information that relates to the provision and effectiveness of language support.
Liaise with consortium partners to produce concise narratives that capture progress against indicators and provide both management and donors with accurate and user-friendly information.
Seek out reports, research, and programs from various actors across the response to analyze trends in language and communication practices.
Liaise with consortium partners to design and implement mid-term and end-term evaluations of the project, based on new perspectives on the wants and needs of the affected people.
Develop innovative methods to measure the impact on affected communities when they have access to communication in the appropriate format and language.
Research coordination
Design and coordinate qualitative and quantitative research projects related to language and communication in humanitarian crisis.
Design and coordinate comprehension research to field-test the effectiveness of various written, audio, and video communication products.
Produce and disseminate evidence-based recommendations and guidelines related to communication and language to support other humanitarian agencies across the response.
Reporting
Ensure efficient systems are in place for program staff to collect and compile relevant and concise information for routine donor reporting requirements and occasional special reports as required.
Input into TWB’s contribution to the weekly CwC sector updates and other required reports.
Input into TWB’s overall crisis response reporting to the Humanitarian Innovation Fund.
Qualifications
The Evidence and Impact Officer should be a creative self-starter with a strong sense of initiative and enthusiastic about the importance of increasing access to knowledge through language. The right candidate is an energetic team player who agrees with TWB´s Core Values and can work in field location and virtually to collaborate with team members based throughout the world.
Requirements
Master’s degree in a relevant subject.
5+ years of program experience in humanitarian contexts
Demonstrated experience initiating and implementing innovative learning, evidence gathering and/or impact measuring at field level,
Experience designing, coordinating, and implementing field-based research projects utilizing quantitative and/or qualitative methodologies
Ability to communicate scientific data to communities, program staff, and partners in a simple and clear manner
Ability to analyze and graphically represent quantitative data using Excel or Google Sheets
Verbal and written fluency in English
Demonstrated experience of monitoring or evaluating CwC work at field level, a plus
Experience and competency working with ARCgis, Tableau, or other specialised software a plus
Experience designing and conducting surveys using Kobo DataCollect, a plus
Verbal or written fluency in Bengali, Chittagong, Rohingya, and/or Burmese, a plus
Experience working in Bangladesh and/or Myanmar, a plus
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.
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.
How to apply:
Please apply online following this link: https://twb.bamboohr.co.uk/jobs/view.php?id=21