CLEAR Global is hiring a
Contract end date: 10 January 2023
Hours: an estimated 8 days’ work over this period, full-time equivalent
Location: home-based
Travel: none
Reporting to: Head of Research, Evidence and Advocacy
Deadline for applications: 7 October 2022, 18.00 CEST
CLEAR Global is an equal-opportunity employer, committed to having a diverse team where individuals of all backgrounds collaborate and learn from one another. We believe we can be most effective with diverse experience and expertise in our team. We recruit on merit, actively seek diverse applicant pools and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, marital or parental status, or sexual orientation, and welcome all types of diversity.
Background
Humanitarian organizations responding to acute and widespread food insecurity in Somalia lack data to understand and address language-based exclusion. As a result, they risk reproducing and aggravating pre-existing exclusion of marginalized language speakers in society. Language-based exclusion compounds educational and social exclusion, and disproportionately affects women and girls, people with disabilities, older people, and members of minority clans and ethnicities.
Data from the 2021 Joint Multi-Cluster Needs Assessment (JMCNA) for Somalia, analyzed jointly by REACH and CLEAR Global, highlights the marginalization of minority groups from humanitarian assistance, and the role of language as a compounding factor of exclusion:
These findings challenge a widespread perception within the response that Northern Standard Somali is used and understood by all, and mutually intelligible with Maay and Benadiri Somali. Similar assumptions in other contexts have been found to be inaccurate, with serious implications for some groups’ ability to access information and services and make themselves heard.
CLEAR Global has secured funding for a brief initial scoping of mutual intelligibility between these three main dialects of Somali, as a basis for developing guidance for humanitarian organizations on communicating effectively across dialects.
The role
The consultant will lead a brief initial assessment of mutual intelligibility between the three dialects, considering:
The assessment will comprise remote key informant interviews with individuals knowledgeable on the points above, and desk-based literature review. The consultant will be supported by an expert on Somali language policies from Minority Rights Group International (MRGI) to identify and make contact with suitable key informants. The consultant will produce a brief written overview of key findings and practical recommendations for humanitarian communication across the three dialects.
The Consultant will report to CLEAR Global’s Head of Research, Evidence and Advocacy and will work with the MRGI expert and relevant CLEAR Global teams. Flexibility and the willingness to adapt to changing circumstances is crucial.
Responsibilities
Deliverables
Qualifications
The consultant 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 CLEAR Global´s core values and can work remotely to collaborate with partners and team members.
Requirements
Terms and conditions
The Consultant’s fees will be paid as follows:
The Consultant will be expected to use their own equipment and supplies (laptop, mobile phone, any recording equipment, etc.) and cover all costs related to the assignment.
How to apply
To apply for this consultancy please submit the following documents:
1. A technical and financial offer to include:
2. Curriculum vitae highlighting experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) and at least three professional references.
Please upload the technical and financial offer as one document under “cover letter” and present the CV(s) of the expert(s) proposed in one document under “CV”.
About CLEAR Global
CLEAR Global’s mission is to help people get information, and be heard, whatever their language. We work with nonprofit partners and a global community of language professionals to build local language translation capacity, and raise awareness of language barriers. Originally founded in 1993 in France (as Traducteurs sans Frontières), CLEAR Global translates millions of words of life-saving and life-changing information every year.
Core Values
CLEAR Global employees and volunteers are people who believe passionately about the value of this work and take personal responsibility for achieving the mission. CLEAR Global’s 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, CLEAR Global is a leader in the translation industry and in the non-profit sector.
Integrity: CLEAR Global 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: CLEAR Global believes in using language to empower people around the world to control their own development and destiny.
Innovation: CLEAR Global recognizes and celebrates the power of innovation to address humanitarian and crisis issues around the world.
Sustainability: CLEAR Global 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.