Contract length: 3 months, with possibility of extension
Hours: Full-time
Location: Home-based
Travel: None anticipated
Reporting to: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager
Application Deadline: 13 March 2020
Due to the urgency of the vacancy, shortlisting will be done on a rolling basis and if the ideal candidate is identified before the closing date, TWB reserves the right to close the recruitment before the application deadline.
The role
The Coronavirus Data specialist coordinates TWB’s language data and mapping efforts in response to the coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak. The Data Specialist will be responsible for curating, cleaning, sharing, and mapping language data in countries affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, applying TWB’s quality standards and templates. Ensure data is interoperable with other humanitarian data and mapping platforms.
Responsibilities
Language data curation
Curate spatial language and literacy data from census and other existing sources for 8 countries affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The countries chosen will depend on availability of data, but may include the following: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
Clean, organize, and format spatial data in a consistent manner and in line with TWB’s standard language datasets.
Apply consistent treatments for language names and admin units.
Aggregate data at the Admin 2, 1, and 0 levels when possible.
Work with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager to conduct an ethics review for each dataset prior to sharing.
Language data sharing
Work with the global Crisis Response Team to share data through the Humanitarian Data Exchange
In collaboration with the TWB Communications Team, develop web copy and share language data on the TWB Language Data webpage.
Support the Coronavirus Response Lead in disseminating language data through WHO, H2H Network Members, and the Asia-Pacific technical advisory group for risk communication and community engagement.
Language mapping
- Work with the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Manager to create interactive and static maps for each dataset to help people explore the data in a visual way.
Qualifications
The Data Specialist should be an innovative self-starter with a strong sense of initiative, familiar with processing census and similar data, and enthusiastic about the importance of increasing access to knowledge through improved language data. The right candidate is an energetic team player and leader who agrees with TWB´s basic beliefs and values and who can work virtually with team members based throughout the world.
Requirements
Bachelor’s degree in statistics, data analytics, GIS, or related field. Master’s degree a plus.
Experience working with census or other spatial datasets.
Excellent writing skills in English.
Advanced experience working Excel
Experience running SQL queries and working in databases
Experience working with Python or R a plus.
Experience working with ArcGIS, Tableau, QGIS, or mapping software a plus.
Willing to work flexible hours and coordinate with colleagues in various time zones.
Experience working with humanitarian data a plus.
Fluency in languages of the Asia-Pacific region a plus.
Flexible and able to innovate to find creative solutions
Background
TWB is responding under an activation of the H2H Fund, as part of a package of support delivered alongside BBC Media Action, Evidence Aid and Internews. The aims of this package are:
Countering misinformation with facts, focused on vulnerable communities, but regional or global in scale.
Disseminating factual information, in accordance with public health efforts, especially for countries (and/or marginalised diaspora) with less developed public health systems.
Monitoring of social media in relevant languages, focused on relevant information, and providing information to public health systems and responders in usable and easily accessible formats and outlets
Monitoring rumours and dispelling untruths with factual information.
As part of this package, TWB is providing data-driven language support to counter misinformation over a period of three months. This includes the following activities:
Language data curation and mapping. We will collect, clean, reformat, and map language and literacy datasets for 8 countries affected by the virus. Country selection will factor in: existing data quality and accessibility, language discrepancies requiring cleaning, availability of appropriate administrative units for analysis. We will choose 8 countries from: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
Social media monitoring. In partnership with Internews, we will support social media monitoring in 6 languages globally. Languages may change based on need and outbreak dynamics, the initial selection is: simplified and traditional Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesian, and Tagalog. This will involve a process of rapid, verbatim translations of social media posts into English for analysis by Internews.
Terminology support. Using data from social media monitoring and formal content streams, we will develop focused coronavirus terminology support. This will identify words people use to refer to the virus (Coronavirus, COVID19, Wuhan Outbreak, etc.) and prevention measures in 6 relevant languages. This will enable partners to develop more nuanced social media monitoring algorithms and more effective communication materials that avoid stigmatized, misunderstood, or overly technical words.
Translation & content dissemination. We will use data from our mapping and social media monitoring to proactively identify content for translation, in coordination with organizations providing public information on the virus. We will translate verified content into 12 relevant languages, provisionally 6 priority languages (Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Thai, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesian, Tagalog) and 6 secondary (Korean, Japanese, Malay, Myanmar, Hindi, and Bangla).
About Translators without Borders
Translators without Borders (TWB) envisions a world where knowledge knows no language barriers. The US-based non-profit provides people access to vital knowledge in their language by connecting non-profit organizations with a professional community of translators, building local language translation capacity, and raising awareness of language barriers. Originally founded in 1993 in France (as Traducteurs sans Frontières), TWB translates millions of words of life-saving and life-changing information a year.
Core Values
Translators without Borders employees and volunteers are made of people who believe passionately about the value of this work and take personal responsibility for achieving the mission. Translators without Borders’ 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, Translators without Borders is a leader in the translation industry and in the non-profit sector.
Integrity: Translators without Borders 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: Translators without Borders believes in using language to empower people around the world to control their own development and destiny.
Innovation: Translators without Borders recognizes and celebrates the power of innovation to address humanitarian and crisis issues around the world.
Sustainability: Translators without Borders 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.
Translators without Borders is an equal-opportunity employer, committed to diversity and inclusion, and encourages qualified candidates of all genders and from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.
How to apply:
To apply click here