TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETATION SERVICES DURING SADC-PF CAPACITY STRENGTHENING SESSIONS

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a leading Africa-based, African-led, international research institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. APHRC conducts policy-relevant research on population, health, education, urbanization and related development issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Aligned with this mission, the challenging the politics of social exclusion’ (CPSE) project seeks to act as a knowledge partner to key government, civil society, and technical actors. The partners work to advance comprehensive sexual and reproductive health service access and the rights of all young people and women, including sexual and gender minorities on the continent.

The project works with the Southern Africa Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) to deliver training sessions for parliamentary staff. Over the next months, CPSE will be conducting capacity strengthening sessions on media training and policy engagement with a focus on sexual and reproductive health.  The project activities and products target regions and countries across Sub Saharan Africa. While many of the project documents are largely produced in English, there is a growing need to offer these in all official languages of the SADC PF member states to ensure broad accessibility. CPSE seeks to provide information and knowledge in different languages to strengthen the reach of its work and to promote active participation by a diverse range of Member States.

In line with this, the SADC PF membership has mandated CPSE to provide interpretation and translation services during the virtual capacity strengthening sessions on a case by case basis and as driven by needs. In many cases, translations and interpretations are central to the delivery of project outputs and the successful capacity strengthening of the partners.

To meet the resulting demand for translation and interpretation, CPSE seeks a highly qualified service provider with sufficient capacity to undertake document translations and simultaneous interpretation to cover the training sessions efficiently and reliably.

SCOPE OF WORK

The expected text volume to be translated in 2021 include different training materials.

The simultaneous interpretation covers sessions of between four to six hours each.

For interpretation, we will require the following clusters:

• English to French and vice versa
• English to Portuguese and vice versa
• French to Portuguese and vice versa

For translation, we will require the following:

• English to French
• English to Portuguese

OBJECTIVES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The consultant will work collaboratively with APHRC’s CPSE staff to:

1. Provide simultaneous interpretation during the training sessions for four to six hours per session.
2. Correctly interpret messages, questions at training sessions, tailors language, tone, style, and format to match the audience, and demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
3. Complete and submit document translation for different documents on both sides of about 500 words per A4 document double-sided.

OUTPUTS/EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

The following but not exclusively are deliverables of the assignment:

• High-quality translation- replication of final layout from the original document and accurately reflecting the meaning found in the source language (most often English) and rendering that meaning in the translated work.
• Professionally executed simultaneous interpretation services during the sessions.

ROLE-RELATED EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• A bachelor’s degree along with proficiency in at least two languages, one of which is usually English.
• At least three years of experience in technical translation and interpretation in multiple sectors and various clients.
• Perfect command of English, French, and Portuguese, one which must be the principal language.
• Demonstrated knowledge of regional sexual reproductive health and rights agendas and policy environments.
• Proven ability and capacity to deliver translations to meet tight deadlines and flexibility.
• Proven track record of having worked with policymakers, civil society organizations, intergovernmental organizations, and government on health, and rights-related issues.
• Excellent computer skills.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance for this Scope of Work is from 23 February to 5 December, 2021.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Please send your CV to consultancies@aphrc.org and copying procurement@aphrc.org by 19 February 2021. Please indicate your preferred cluster as listed above.

Also, indicate you proposed rates for interpretation and costs for document translation.