Consultancy for Audio Translation of the Simplified Access to Information Handbook into Indigenous Languages

About the GPU:

The Gambia Press Union (GPU) is the umbrella body for media practitioners in The Gambia, registered with the Attorney General’s Chamber in April 1979. With trade union and professional pursuits, the Union is mandated to safeguard the welfare of media professionals and promote press freedom. In over four decades of its existence, the GPU has evolved into a leading prominent national union and civil society organization of international repute.

Background:

After five years of an unprecedented CSO-led right-to-know campaign, the National Assembly of The Gambia on July 1, 2021, voted to pass into law the Access to Information Bill. A month later, President Adama Barrow signed the Bill into Law. This legislative framework grants the citizens – and everyone else – the legal right of access to information that the government and private entities keep for or on behalf of the public. Previously, there were a series of awareness campaigns like training ATI cluster members, a nationwide caravan, and strategic meetings with cluster heads to advocate for the passage of the Bill, which has been achieved.

The success of the ATI legislation, however, lies not just in the quality of the legal instrument, but also in its application, use, and implementation. In view of this, GPU hired a team of legal consultants in 2022 that developed a roadmap for the successful implementation of the ATI legislation. The roadmap, which was reviewed and validated during a two-day consultative retreat with stakeholders in November 2022, is intended to inform the programmatic activities of the GPU and other stakeholders around the Act.

As the legislation already enters into its implementation phase and to ensure proper understanding of the key provisions of the legislation by journalists and members of the public, the GPU also hired a legal consultant in August 2023 to simplify the ATI Act into a comprehensive non-legalistic handbook called the “Citizen’s version” of the ATI law. The handbook will enable journalists and members of the public to understand when, how, where, and from whom to request information within the government machinery. It will also enable them to ensure accountability and transparency in all sectors of the government.

To ensure the citizen’s version of the ATI law is made readily accessible to everyone particularly the indigenous members of the public, minority groups and groups with special needs, the GPU seeks to hire a consultant to translate the Simplified ATI Law Handbook into English and seven (7) indigenous languages (Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Jola, Manjago, Serer, and Aku).

These translations will be produced into audio recordings and audio recordings will be featured on different commercial and community radio stations across the country; and will be aired at least 50 times throughout a span of two years.

Summary of services required:

The consultant is required to translate the Simplified Version of the Access to Information Act, 2021 into English and seven indigenous languages which will be produced into audio recordings. The audios lengths shall be kept within a minimum one (1) minute and a maximum 1.15 minutes. The consultant will summarise some of relevant provisions of the legislation in a concrete, precise and easy-to-understand manner for members of the public and journalists to easily understand the law and be able to utilise it. Translations must be devoid of legal jargons for easy comprehension.

Duties of Consultant:

The contracted consultant shall perform the following tasks:

• To develop audio translations of the simplified ATI Handbook into English and seven indigenous languages that will be directly understood by indigenous members of the public as well as persons with disabilities.
• Ensure coherence between the local languages and the English version;

Deliverables:

The contracted consultant shall deliver the following items:

• Development and presentation of audio translations
• Produce good quality audios in English and local languages
• Submission of final audio translations

Application process:

• Each consultant should submit a technical proposal and budget demonstrating an understanding of the scope of work and detailed methodology for carrying out the consultancy (maximum of five pages using Times News Roman font size 12 and single line spacing).
• The proposal should include timelines and the roles and capacity of the consultant.
• The timeline should detail the workflow from the consultancy start date to the end date.
• The proposal budget should have sufficient details to allow for the evaluation of elements of the costs proposed.
• Submit CV of the consultant.
• Full proposal document (technical proposal and budget) should be submitted to po2.gpu@gmail.com, copying programmanager.gpu@gmail.com and pressuniongambia@gmail.com and accounts@gpu.gm by 15^th December, 2023.

Qualification of the consultant:

The successful bidder(s) shall:

• Be an expert(s) in translation of English to local languages;
• Have proven experience of at least 3 years in translation services;
• Be fluent in English and local languages;
• Have excellent written and communication skills in English;
• Demonstrated experience, knowledge, and understanding of the task.

Award Criteria

The quotation that will get the highest score will be awarded the contract. The award will be based on the following criteria:

Start date and period of implementation

The deadline for submission of bids is 15th December 2023 at 12:00PM. The successful bidder will be contacted within five days of the deadline and will receive a contract for the work to be done. Work is expected to start immediately after a contract has been awarded.