• Home
  • Lesson Browser
  • About
  • Feedback
  • UNDEF

translation

Project: Strengthening Governance and Democratization Processes in Kenya and the East and Central Africa Region
Evaluation Date: November 2013
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

While developing an electoral knowledge resource in Swahili seemed to be a good use of resources, this was not the case since there was no demonstrated need for this resource in Swahili and the targeted beneficiaries were not made aware that the website and translations existed. Use statistics of the website were low and none of the Kenyans interviewed outside of the grantee knew the translations existed. The Kenyans interviewed said they relied on English technical material because Swahili is still a developing language and does not have the technical vocabulary.

Theme: Community activism
Kenya   elections, language, Swahili, translation
Project: Strengthening Governance and Democratization Processes in Kenya and the East and Central Africa Region
Evaluation Date: May 2013
Report: [report link]
Lesson Learned:

A part of the project entailed translating sections of the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network website into Swahili. But there was already more than a decade’s worth of good materials developed in the region in local languages that could have been uploaded to ACE. Before investing in this effort, a needs assessment should have been done to see if the lack of ACE-type material in Swahili was a major constraint to the achievement of the project’s intended outcomes and to determine which topics, if any, should be translated.

Theme: Community activism
Kenya   language, translation

Subscribe to UNDEF Newsletter

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use