Terms of Reference for Interpretation Services

We have an exciting opportunity for interpretation services for the ACB.

Background

Established by a resolution of African Health ministers in 2012, the African Constituencies Bureau for the Global Fund (ACB) was set up to be a platform for facilitating engagement, participation and consensus building among East and Southern Africa (ESA) and West and Central Africa (WCA) constituent countries in Global Fund policies and governance engagements. Also known as “The Bureau”, the organization is an operational hub and policy think tank of the WCA and ESA Global Fund constituencies, and begun its formal operations in March 2017. The purpose of the Bureau is to ensure effective engagement, representation and participation of the Africa constituencies in Global Fund processes as well as enhancing the capacity of the Africa constituencies to shape Global Fund policies and processes.

Given that African countries are largely Anglophone and Francophone, meetings bringing countries together have presented the need to have parallel interpretation services from English to French and vice versa. This optimizes the participation of both blocks of countries, especially the French speaking countries.

Through this action, the ACB therefore seeks to enhance the contribution of both blocks during two (2) main activities:

The Annual Consultative Meeting (ACM)

As the name suggests, the ACM is an annual event that brings together delegates from all the forty-seven (47) African countries from West and Central Africa (WCA) and East and Southern Africa (ESA) that are beneficiaries of Global Fund resources. The two-day meeting is an opportunity for African countries to show-case their best practices and learn from each other while at the same time identify policy opportunities and challenges and also delve into policy issues for input into Global Fund governance discussions at board and committee levels. Consensus over policy positions is the principal output in this two-day event. The meeting is there an opportunity for Africa to affirm its leadership role and develop strategies to influence key policies that impact on its capacity and ability to maximize the impact of Global fund resources.

The Cluster-Based Learning Networks (CBLNs)

Under CBLNs, both ESA and WCA are further sub-divided into two clusters. ESA has the East and Southern Africa clusters while WCA has West and Central Africa clusters. Each CBLN brings together 10-12 countries in its respective region that meet and interact regularly through face to face and virtual meetings and sharing information on the ACB intranet. The forums encourage horizontal learning and sharing leading to increased capacity to implement Global Fund supported programs. The CBLNs increase interaction and participation of African countries thereby contributing greatly to Result 1 of ACB Strategy;

building a stronger, united and informed African voice, consensus generation as well as providing feedback loops to the respective countries. The forums therefore do not only strengthen Africa’s capacity to participate and influence Global Fund policy and processes but also contributes to strengthening of the capacity of respective countries to maximize the impact of Global Fund resources.

In-person CBLN meetings occur twice a year in March and July in Dakar, Senegal (WCA currently have a combined meeting), Johannesburg (for Southern Africa) and Addis Ababa (for east Africa). The third in-person cluster meetings happen on the back of the ACM in October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

To optimize the importance of these meetings, the ACB needs interpretation services. This will ensure effective communication in both languages (English and French). Interpretation services will be needed for CBLN meetings in Dakar and the ACM in Addis Ababa.

The ACB therefore seeks to contract interpretation services of a qualified and experienced interpreters for Dakar CBLN meetings (35 people) and Addis Ababa ACM meeting (65 people).

Scope of Work

Qualified cabinet will provide the following services:

• Simultaneous interpretation services from English to French and vice versa during the two-day meeting.
• Provide headphones and listening equipment.

Terms and Conditions

• During the entire period of the assignment, the interpreters and their team shall make themselves available for providing services to the ACB.
• In providing services to the ACB, the interpreters and their team shall exhibit the highest professional standards and exercise due care, skill, and competence to ensure that the services provided is to the full satisfaction of the ACB.
• The interpreters shall render their services in a proper and timely manner.
• Any documents the interpreters and their team come into contact with during their work with the ACB shall be treated as confidential and cannot be share with any third party without prior concurrence from the ACB.
• It is the responsibility of the interpreters and their team to remit to the appropriate tax authorities a withholding Tax and/or any other form of tax obligation from the total fees in accordance with the laws of their respective country.

Reporting

The interpreters will report to the Communication Specialist at the ACB.

Required Exprience and Skills

Required Experience

• Relevant experience with a proven record of providing interpretation services from English to French and vice versa (letter of recommendations from relevant clients will be an asset)
• Minimum two (2) years of progressive interpretation work from English to French and vice versa with the government and/or international organizations such as the UN, INGOs and civil society
• Possession of adequate and quality interpretation equipment

Required skills

1. Sound understanding of technical terms and terminology particularly in global health;
2. Good knowledge of Global Fund structure / vocabulary will be an asset
3. Experience in interpretation of official government/UN meetings
4. Ability to work under pressure and to meet strict deadlines
5. Ability to produce a high volume of quality content
6. Demonstrated willingness to work as part of a team in a multi-cultural environment

Application Procedure

Individuals or firms meeting the above requirements, are encouraged submit the following documents by email with the subject “Interpretation services in Addis Ababa” or “Interpretation Services in Dakar”:

• An updated capability statement (for firms) or an updated CV (for individuals) with details of referees for both
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs where appropriate.

Payment Modalities

The ACB will pay the interpreters the full contract amount within five (5) working days after completion of the two-day meetings.

Email submissions should be addressed to “The Communication Specialist” and sent to info@africanconsituency.org not later than  8^th February 2019..