English to Swahili translation at UN Women
Background
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women, and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality are translated into action worldwide. It provides solid and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts while building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
UN Women is implementing a programme on women’s rights and access to justice. The programme has partnered with the Tanzania Women Judges Associations (TAWJA) in a project titled “Strengthening the court system in the Management of Violence Against Women (VAW) cases” to ensure a gender-sensitive judicial system. In 2021, as a part of the project interventions, a Gender Bench Book (GBB) on Women’s Rights was developed for Tanzania Mainland.
The Gender Bench Book supports the State in responding to recommendations made at the international and regional levels on appropriate ways of improving the administration of justice and promoting gender equality.
The Gender Bench Book (GBB) is an accessible, user-friendly reference guide for judicial officers in protecting women and girls’ rights, strengthening the gender response on cases, and ensuring they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. On this basis, the translation of the GBB into Swahili will provide a broader reach to all stakeholders across the country.
UN Women is therefore seeking to recruit a consultant to translate the Gender Bench Book on Women’s Rights from English to Swahili.
Objective and Activities of the Consultancy
To translate the above-mentioned Gender Bench Book from English into Swahili, ensuring the same structure and format as the English version is maintained.
Duties and Responsibilities
With the overall guidance of UN Women and TAWJA, the primary duties are to:
- Translate the Gender Bench Book from English into Swahili (196 pages) – the translator will be relied on to execute the translation with timeliness and consistency.
- Ensure the quality of translation and that the intended meaning is maintained in the translated version.
- Proofreading and final review of the translation – review of the translation before delivery should include checking spelling and grammar, confirming technical accuracy, and verifying overall clarity and fluency in Swahili. UN Women and TAWJA will also conduct such verification checks and may request corrections accordingly.
- Working modality
With close consultation with UN Women and TAWJA, the consultant contracted will deliver on assigned work from their home location.
Deliverables and Payment Schedule:
Translated GBB from English to Swahili, ensuring clear and concise language that all can understand and that the Swahili document has been proofread, ensuring it does not contain spelling or grammatical errors.
A lump sum payment will be provided in full upon completion of the assignment
Competencies
Integrity:
- Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of the UN in actions and decisions in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Professionalism:
- Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
Work in teams:
- Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Communicating and Information Sharing:
- Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
Appropriate and Transparent Decision-Making:
- Demonstrate informed and transparent decision-making.
Core Competencies:
- Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
- Accountability
- Creative Problem Solving
- Effective Communication
- Inclusive Collaboration
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Leading by Example
Functional Competencies:
- Mastery of both English and Swahili languages.
- Knowledge of gender equality and women’s human rights.
- Ability to accurately translate legal jargon or technical terms.
- Proven ability and capacity to deliver translations to meet tight deadlines, such as the flexibility to assign additional translators to complete a project on time.
- Ability to manage client expectations, meet deadlines, and provide high-quality translations.
- Meticulous attention to linguistic nuances, grammar, and syntax errors.
- Ability to understand complex texts, including the underlying tone and nuances, to provide an accurate and context-appropriate translation.
- Ability to translate texts within a reasonable time frame without compromising quality.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Master’s degree in linguistics (Swahili and English), Law, or any other relevant field OR a Bachelor’s degree in linguistics (Swahili and English) or Law with eight years of relevant experience.
Experience:
- A minimum of seven (7) years of professional experience in the translation of technical documents from English to Swahili and Swahili to English for various clients.
- Experience translating texts on gender equality and women’s human rights.
- Proven familiarity or a track record of working with the United Nations and other international organisations.
Language Requirements:
Fluency in both written and spoken English and Swahili is required.
How To Apply
Please note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.
UN Women Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment .
UNWOMEN is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
