DANBURY, CT USA –20 March – Translators without Borders has activated and trained a Rapid Response Team (RRT) of translators for three Nigerian languages to enable citizen information sharing before, during and after the Nigerian elections. The elections will be held 28 March; Translators without Borders will offer information sharing support 24/7 between 26 March and 1 April in Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.
Mobile phones are ubiquitous in Nigeria. The most common languages of engagement and network socializing are Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. During and after the elections, the Translators without Borders Rapid Response Team will work with partners who gather ‘big data’ from the around the country in the form of public texts, as well as open social media communications. Data that is in the three target languages will be translated into English by the TWB rapid responders and provided back to partners who will crowd map any problems or citizen concerns throughout the country.
Translators without Borders contributed to a similar effort in Kenya two years ago, working as part of Ushahidi’s Uchaguzi elections project. In Kenya, the Rapid Response Team translated more than 38,000 messages from 11 languages into English, working 24/7 over eight days. After that effort, Heather Leson of Ushahidi said, “Without the role played by TWB we could not be celebrating this massive success.”
The Nigerian Rapid Response Team consists of translators and bilinguals who are interested in helping. TWB has trained them, using online training tools created as part of the organization’s Words of Relief crisis relief program. Words of Relief is the first-ever translation program and network designed specifically for crisis response. It is currently being piloted in Kenya, but also was used in West Africa late last year to respond to the Ebola crisis.
Non-profit organizations working in Nigeria for improved information sharing during the elections should contact Translators without Borders at [email protected] if they would like to use the Rapid Response Translator team.
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