The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) is a strategy and delivery oriented government agency created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATA envisions that, by 2025, smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability, contributing to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle-income country status.

The agency focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (MoALR), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading a number of implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sector partners across the country.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great team work to achieve excellent results.

At ATA, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

POSITION SUMMARY

The ATA needs the services of a professional to translate text between Amharic and English, to proofread text in Amharic. Documents produced on a regular basis and requiring translation include the Transformation Agenda Annual Report (yearly), Parliament report (bi-monthly), and Transformation Council report (quarterly), as well as a number of documents produced on an ad hoc basis.

Thus, the ATA is looking for a full-time, in-house translator to be based in the Addis Ababa office. While the ATA has developed an English and Amharic writing and translation guide, familiarity with the agriculture, rural development, and government sector terminology helpful for this role.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Translate English documents to Amharic and Amharic documents to English as required.
• Edit Amharic text for grammar, accuracy, consistency, and adherence to ATA standards.
• Apply ATA standards set out in the English and Amharic writing and translation style guide to all translated and edited text to ensure quality and consistency.
• Provide translation and edits through an iterative process that incorporates feedback from relevant teams.
• Compile a list of common technical terms encountered to contribute to the refinement of the writing and translation style guide.
• Work closely with other teams, especially Communications and the Performance Management Unit, to ensure that translation and edits conform to the ATA’s quality standards.
• Receive comments from ATA staff electronically and in-person, and revise outputs accordingly.
• Communicate thoroughly and effectively regarding expectations, needs, and challenges encountered during the course of assignments.
• Work in a fast-paced environment to deliver outputs according to agreed timelines.

• Bachelor’s degree in English, languages, communications, journalism, agriculture, rural development, or other relevant field
• At least five years of Amharic translation or editing experience
• Expertise in written and spoken English and Amharic
• Excellent English and Amharic writing and editing skills
• Excellent translation skills with capacity to detect and understand nuances in the original text
• Attention to detail, including ability to identify and correct inconsistencies
• Self-motivated, team-player with proven ability to contribute to organizational success
• Ability to establish priorities, plan, coordinate, monitor own work, communicate proactively about progress, and deliver to agreed deadlines
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office applications, including Amharic typing applications, and internet resources for translation
• Background in agriculture or rural development (optional)