Translators Without Borders in Africa

CETRA is a proud sponsor of Translators Without Borders(TWB). This non-profit organization assists in translating more than two million words per year for NGOs such as Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), Médecins du Monde, Action Against Hunger, Oxfam US and Handicap International. Featured in the Huffington Postand Wall Street Journal, the organization has recently been expanding.

Upcoming projects with TWB include requests from AGIS for rural health information in languages such as Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili, French, Bantu, Kinyarwanda , Somali and more. Another request was received from a youth center in Nairobi where teenagers put on a play to ask TWB to translate brochures on AIDS prevention, contraception and sexual violence for their young Somali neighbors.

In order to ensure that Africa’s position in the “last language mile” is prioritized, Common Sense Advisory and Translators Without Borders recently announced a new study on the African translation market. Through a donation in-kind from Common Sense Advisory, a report with the full results of the study will be provided free of charge to the public. Translators for African languages may participate by filling out a survey. For more details of the importance of this study, click here.

The need for Translators Without Borders in sub-Saharan Africa is clear. And the support from people on the ground is overwhelming. But the organization is run by volunteers, self-financed and, frankly, working on a shoestring. In order to move forward on their programs, they need your help. ProZ.com recently launched a program to match every $100 donation to Translators without Borders by donating a year-long ProZ.com professional membership to a translator – please visit their site to see how you can make a donation or help as a volunteer.