Job Purpose
To empower individuals and communities through accessible, culturally resonant, and high-impact training and capacity-building programs. As an Educational Localisation Specialist, you will bridge the gap between global expertise and local impact. This role is not just about translation; it is about transcreation. You will ensure that our training and capacity building modules, digital learning platforms, and instructional materials are linguistically accurate, culturally sensitive, and pedagogically effective for diverse audiences across the Zimbabwean nation. You will play a critical role in our mission of empowerment by removing language barriers and ensuring that every learner and or trainee regardless of their background feels seen, heard, and capable of learning, growing and thriving.
Core Responsibilities
- Cultural and pedagogical adaptation. Adapt instructional content (e-learning, manuals, videos) to ensure metaphors, examples, and case studies are relevant to the local context and lived experiences of the learners and or trainees.
- Linguistic quality assurance: Manage the end-to-end translation process. This includes performing high-level translations, reviewing the work of external vendors, and maintaining a centralized glossary of mission-specific terminology.
- Multimedia localization. Collaborate with the creative team to oversee the localization of non-text assets, including voice-overs, subtitling, and localized graphics/UI for our learning management systems (LMS).
- Lead focus groups with learners, trainees and local educators to validate that localized materials are accessible and culturally appropriate.
- Stakeholder collaboration. Work closely with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and local community partners to validate that localized content meets the specific capacity-building needs of the region.
- Project management. Lead localization workflows, ensuring that multilingual versions of training programs are launched on time and within budget.
- Impact assessment. Gather feedback from local facilitators and learners to continuously refine and improve the cultural efficacy of our materials.
- Directly contributing to the empowerment of marginalized or underserved populations.
- Perform any related duties as assigned.
Qualifications & Experience
- A Master’s degree in Education, Linguistics, Instructional Design, or a related field with specialization in one of the native languages (e.g. Tonga, Ndebele and Shona).
- Bachelor of Arts Honours in African Languages (Shona, Ndebele, and Tonga (Language and Cultural Studies), or a BA Honours in African Languages, or BA Honours in Translation and Interpretation Studies or a related degree.
- A minimum of 2 years in localization or instructional design, preferably within the non-profit or international development sector.
- Native-level fluency in Tonga, Ndebele and Shona.
- High proficiency in the source language (English) and the target local language Tonga, Ndebele and Shona). You must understand local dialects, slang, and formal vs. informal registers.
- Proficiency with Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) tools and familiarity with E-learning authoring tools.
Attributes, Competencies & Skills
- Cultural intelligence. A deep understanding of local taboos, humour, and social hierarchies.
- Result-orientation.
- Mission-driven.
- Empathy and Learner-centricity. Having the ability to step into the shoes of the learner and trainees.
- Ability to manage expectations
- Ability to demonstrate an empowerment mindset.
- Ability to communicate clearly across different contexts.
- Negotiation.
