Antecedentes

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 centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women plays an innovative and catalytic role in the State of Palestine since its inception in 1997. UN Women Palestine Office conducts various events, workshops, conferences, and meetings as part of its programmatic intervention including development of technical documents, tools and communication material that require translation into Arabic/English. Audiences include international participants, implementing partners, the media and communities. To meet such needs, UN Women Palestine is interested to contract several professional translators/ editors and interpreters to provide UN Women with high quality translation and interpretation services (Arabic/English) when needed and requested by UN Women. Interpretation equipment is also required for some events to provide the needed service during workshops, conferences, and events.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The consultant will work closely with UN Women programme and operations teams to provide:

Translation Services:

• Produce high-quality translation of documents from English to Arabic and / or vice versa;
• Translating, editing and proofreading full content, footnotes and / or endnotes, captions under photographs, tables… etc;
• Ensure content accuracy and detailed comparison of content, facts and figures, making sure there are no discrepancies in the meaning of the source manuscript;
• Ensure Arabic and English language excellence and proofreading, including excellent language, technical vocabulary, syntax, expression and grammar as well as use of formal gender sensitive terminology;
• Ensure confidentiality of the original texts and translated materials. The translation submitted to UN Women under each assignment is the property of UN Women and cannot be submitted, distributed or used by any other party, unless authorized;
• The translator is obligated to work within the required deadlines and be available to UN Women for comments and corrections;
• Work in close collaboration with UN Women Task Manager, and ensure the translation services are up to expectations and professional standards;
• Ensure quality check of translation; ensuring that no errors are left in the final text; and
• Ensure final drafts are submitted ahead of time and revised as needed to meet UN Women expectations.

Editing and proofreading:

• Provide high-quality substantive editing and proofreading of documents, both Arabic and English;
• Conduct holistic substantive review of the manuscripts to correct grammar, check spelling, punctuation and delete redundancies, fix problem sentences, and sharpen vocabulary; and
• Improve the overall clarity and organization of the text through re-arranging sentences and paragraphs, if needed, replacing inappropriate words and polishing the whole text.

Simultaneous Interpretation:

• Provide on-site oral translation services from English to Arabic and/ or vice versa for UN Women workshops, events, trainings etc; and
• Provide simultaneous interpretation equipment: booth for translators, speakers, sound system, microphones for podiums and head table, cordless mics, headsets with all the wireless and connections necessary (cost of equipment will be quoted separately).

Competencias

Core values / Guiding principles:

Integrity:

• Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women 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.

Cultural Sensitivity / Valuing diversity:

• Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Communicating Information and Ideas:

• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.

Self-management and Emotional intelligence:

• Creating synergies through self-control.

Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning:

• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others.

Functional Competencies:

• Professional knowledge and expertise in translation, working with UN agencies or international organizations;
• Knowledge of gender and human rights terminology;
• Advanced user of computers and office software packages, experience in handling web-based management systems;
• Knowledge of the UN terminology and key UN Women concepts;
• Understanding of the Palestinian context and the work of UN Women in the State of Palestine is an added advantage; and
• Extensive experience and knowledge of the work of the national government and civil society organizations on human rights, women’s rights and gender issues in Palestine.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• University degree in translation, literature, Journalism and media, philology or other relevant field.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in provision of professional translation, interpretation and editing services;
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in translating, interpreting and editing gender, governance, human rights, poverty reduction, rule of law and development related documents/ events etc;
• Experience in working with Human Rights Organizations, International Organizations, Research Institutions for at least 2 years; and
• Background in research writing is an asset.

Language:

Fluency in Arabic and English.

How to apply:

Candidates interested in applying for this position should provide a CV in English providing full details on education, present and past employment/ jobs for the last 5 years, language skills, professional translations skills, computer skills, etc.

Long listed candidates will be requested to translate a sample manuscript for assessment purposes; while those who are shortlisted will also be requested to provide a financial offer and three references.

Evaluation:

UN Women applies fair and transparent selection process that takes into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals. The contract shall be awarded to translators who pass the technical scoring (at least 80/100). Partial services contract is permitted under this assignment.

Evaluation criteria is as follows:

• University degree in translation, literature, Journalism and media, philology or other relevant field (max 10 points).
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in translating / interpreting documents on gender, governance, poverty reduction, rule of law and development related area (max 35 points).
• Experience of working with human rights organizations, international organizations, research institutions for at least 2 years (max 30 points).
• Translation of sample manuscripts (English to Arabic and Vice versa) provided to UN Women (max 20 points).
• Background in research writing is an asset (max 05 points).
• UN Women reserves the right to conduct reference checks, if needed.

UN Women will establish several individual contracts (up to USD 30,000 each) with several translators for the above mentioned services. At the time of service needed, UN Women will do an internal review of established contracts and request the service from the available consultant offering the lowest financial offer. There is no guarantee that UN Women will pay the full amount of contract during the contract period, UN Women will process payments against services receipted upon request and assessed as fully satisfactorily received.