Terms of Reference

BACKGROUND 

Three decades after ASEAN was established, ASEAN Leaders recognised that: there remained inadequate shared prosperity, ASEAN awareness and contact among people of ASEAN. It was of this concern that ASEAN Leaders established the ASEAN Foundation during ASEAN’s 30^th Anniversary Commemorative Summit in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 15 December 1997.      

After its establishment, the ASEAN Foundation has been tasked to support ASEAN’s community building efforts by promoting greater awareness of the ASEAN identity, human resource development, people-to-people interaction, and close collaboration among the business sector, civil society, academia and other stakeholders in ASEAN.

Amid COVID-19 crisis, viral online misinformation and disinformation are spreading unchecked, to the point that the World Economic Forum identified it as one of the biggest threats to society. ASEAN is also not immune to this threat. Young people are among the most vulnerable groups who are prone to radicalisation, hate speech, false news and intolerance.

Based on UNESCO study, 54% of youth respondents didn’t know how to respond to hate and extremist material they encounter online. However, on a more encouraging note, 92% of youth respondents embraced the idea that media and information literacy competencies can help to empower young people to protect themselves from radical and extremist groups and counter hate speech online.

ASEAN is taking a concrete step to prevent misinformation and disinformation. In 2018, the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information adopted the Framework and Joint Statement to Minimise the Harmful Effects of Fake News. ASEAN has also launched its ASEAN Digital Literacy, which aims to promote greater cybersecurity as part of the fight against online disinformation. In addition, 2021 saw ASEAN develop a guideline of Training of Trainers programme that targets secondary school teachers, university tutors and lecturers to improve the digital information literacy of young people.

As a way to contribute to the effort, the ASEAN Foundation with the support of Google created a learning material in a form of comic called ‘Digital Literacy 101,’ which was launched during ASEAN Digital Literacy Forum on 28 October 2021. The comic provides practical tips for its readers to detect, counter and prevent the spreading of online hoaxes and fake news. To ensure that all citizens of ASEAN can better understand the contents of the comic, Digital Literacy 101 will be translated to nine ASEAN languages, including Mandarin. In order to deliver high quality translations for the comic, capturing the nuances of local languages, capable translators with good experience in translating novel and comic are required

DUTY AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

The language translators are expected to coordinate with the Head of Communications and Project Management Coordinator to discuss the technicalities and requirements needed for translating the Digital Literacy 101 comic. The language interpreters are then required to translate the materials accurately and in his or her assigned source language.  

EXPECTED OUTPUTS

In summary, the language translators are expected to deliver the following outputs: 

• Translation of the comic from English to the following ASEAN languages:
  • Burmese
  • Bahasa Indonesia
  • Bahasa Melayu
  • Filipino
  • Khmer
  • Lao
  • Thai
  • Vietnamese
  • Mandarin
• Delivery of translation work in a manner that is easier for the designer apply the translation
• Final proofreading of the translated comics

 
TIMELINE

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 

All information pertaining to this project belonging to the ASEAN Foundation and its partners, which the language translator may come into contact with within the performance of his/her, duties under this assignment shall remain the property of the ASEAN Foundation and its partners, who shall have exclusive rights over their use. Except for purposes of this assignment, the information shall not be disclosed to the public nor used in whatever without the written permission of the ASEAN Foundation and its partners in line with the national and International Copyright Laws applicable.

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED 

The language interpreters should possess the following minimum skill sets:

• At least 1-year experience as a language translator
• Preferably has an academic degree in the source language
• Excellent command of English
• Fluent understanding of the source language
• Good understanding of the culture of the source language country
• Knowledgeable on the theme (Digital Literacy)

REMUNERATION 

A lump-sum payment of USD 150 will be paid once the invoice is submitted to ASEAN Foundation. The fee was determined based on the number of words in the English version of the comic, which is 566 words.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested and suitably qualified candidates should send their applications to [email protected] and [email protected] in Cc, with email subject of TRSLTR_AF2021. The applications must consist of the following documents:

• CV (in PDF, maximum 2 pages)
• Portfolio and/or sample of work

Deadline for Application

6 December 2021