Senior Arabic Translation and Editing Associate, UNOPS, LICA 7

Title: Senior Arabic Translation and Editing Associate

Duty Station : UNHCR MENA Regional Bureau in Amman, Jordan

Contract type : UNOPS Contract

Contract Level : LICA-7

1. General Background:

The MENA Regional Bureau in Amman covers 14 countries in the MENA region. The region continues to pose overwhelming challenges, with multiple and complex emergency situations on an unprecedented scale. In 2018, there were some 17 million people of concern to UNHCR in the MENA region. The majority – over 10 million – were internally displaced from conflict in Syria, Yemen and Iraq – three of the largest humanitarian and displacement crises in the world. The Syria crisis itself remains the largest displacement crisis in the world, with over 5.6 million registered refugees in the neighboring host countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, and over 6 million people displaced within Syria.

In this context, the Senior Management needs to ensure prompt and efficient management of information and documentation flow in both Arabic and English languages, in light of the increasing demands on producing documentation in Arabic for the service of the governments and other external interlocutors in the region. Furthermore, in light of recent efforts by UNHCR to decentralize & regionalize processes ensuring more efficient approaches to supporting the field, there has been an increased pressure on localizing products in the Arabic language, something that the region is in dire need for.

2. Purpose and Scope of Assignment:

Recently, the MENA Bureau has been facing a surge in the requests for localization of different forms of materials into Arabic; including: legal textspeechesmedia productsGuidance notesExternal reports glossaryVideosProtection sensitive material…etc. the MENA bureau has also been approached by DIP on repetitive occasions for providing proofreading on UNHCR guidance for global publication. Being host to three major global emergencies (Syria, Yemen, and Iraq) the MENA bureau Public information team also requires continued Arabic language support. This has resulted in overburdening the current capacity within the bureau and resulted in recommending creating a function for handling the translationproofreading and Arabic editing for the MENA Bureau. It is noteworthy that other bureaus with a similar challenge have developed their own capacities for localization of UNHCR materials.

Duties

The incumbent is expected to carry out the following duties in Arabic and English Languages:

• Receives and centralizes translation requests to be forwarded to the supervisor for prioritization and ensures follow-up.
• Proofreads translated documents, UNHCR material, and edited letters to identify and correct, with the approval of the Executive Assistant to the Director, all typographical errors, grammatical or syntax mistakes, making sure the final version is clear, consistent, complete, correct and faithful to the original.
• Undertakes the necessary documentary and linguistic research from available resources and authoritative documents to constitute reference material to be put at the disposal of external translators, as required.
• Contribute in maintaining and updating a terminology data base to be shared with internal and external translators as well as other UNHCR colleagues, when necessary.
• Receives and centralizes queries from colleagues and external translators for onward forwarding.
• Centralizes in electronic files to be updated on a regular basis all translated documents and edited letters for statistics and follow-up.
• Interacts with counterparts in different Bureau units, HQ Divisions, and Country Operations for any technical or organizational issue.
• Support the external engagement team of the Bureau in development of news-driven and authoritative content to lead the narrative on forced displacement and show UNHCR’s impact (e.g. interviews, press releases, flagship reports, speeches), create emotive storytelling to generate empathy (e.g. stories, multimedia content) and mobilize action by signposting concrete steps people can take to help refugees (e.g. digital diplomacy, action-driven campaigns, fundraising).
• Perform other related duties as required.

Qualifications and Experience:

a) Education

• High School Diploma (required);
• Bachelor or equivalent or higher in Translation, Arabic Arts Journalism, Social Sciences, Humanities or related fields (preferred)

b) Work Experience

• 4 years relevant experience with High School Diploma; or
• 2 years of relevant work experience with a bachelor’s degree or equivalent or higher.
• Previous experience in proofreading/reviewing translations (Arabic/English)
• Previous work in humanitarian field. Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages.
• Excellent organization, prioritization, communication and computer skills. Experience in language teaching (Arabic) and conference translation in humanitarian contexts.
• Experience in JournalismEditing for Media in Arabic and English.

c) Key Competencies

Functional Skills

• Cross-cultural communication;
• Computer Literacy;
• Coordination;
• Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation

Language Skills

• Professional knowledge of Arabic and English.

Core Competencies:

• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client & Result Orientation
• Managerial Competencies:
• Managing Resources
• Cross-Functional Competencies:
• Analytical Thinking