Language AI For Social Impact - Senior Partnership Officer

Position title: Language AI for Social Impact - Senior Partnership Officer

Contract length: up to 30 June 2025, with possibility of extension

Hours: 80% FTE

Location: Home-based

Travel: International travel within Africa is expected, no more than 25% of the time

Reporting to: Program Tech Lead

Remuneration: 3,800-4,500USD/month (this amount will be prorated to 80% time commitment) 

Deadline for applications: 10th January 2025

CLEAR Global is an equal-opportunity employer, committed to having a diverse team where

individuals of all backgrounds collaborate and learn from one another. We believe we can be

most effective with diverse experience and expertise in our team. We recruit on merit, actively seek diverse applicant pools and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, marital or parental status, or sexual orientation, and welcome all types of diversity.

We offer in addition to salary:

• an innovative work environment with a diverse and passionate team,

• 20 days of annual leave and 10 days of floating holidays, (for full-time employees: this is prorated for part-time employees)

• the flexibility of home-based/remote work,

• accommodation and per diems when on deployment.

The role

Language AI has made dramatic progress in recent years. Yet the 4 billion people worldwide who do not speak ‘major’ languages remain largely unserved, restricting their access to digital information and services. The digital language gap is widening. To tackle this, CLEAR Global launched the 4 Billion Conversations (4BC) initiative together with partners  Africa and South Asia.

CLEAR Global’s 4BC initiative aims to close the digital language gap by making language technology available in marginalized languages. Language technology for these languages has vast potential to support social impact efforts ranging from climate change resilience to addressing gender-based violence. The 4BC initiative is carried by a network of program partners working on social impact activities and tech partners working on language AI. 

As the Senior Partnership Officer, you will play a pivotal role in furthering the 4BC initiative and its associated projects. The 4BC initiative is at a pivotal moment, as we and our partners work to bring it to scale while language technology and AI have the world’s attention. Your primary responsibilities will be to support the growth and development of the 4BC initiative by building a network of stakeholders, engaging organizations on the priorities and concerns of the global majority, and further developing a shared vision for the future of language technology, particularly with a focus on Africa. 

One example of recent initiatives to apply the recent advancements of language AI is the Agriculture Information Exchange Platform (AIEP) initiative, a collaboration funded by the Bill-and-Melinda-Gates Foundation and implemented by GIZ which CLEAR Global supports. The AIEP initiative aims to build the systems to get farmers in East Africa and India accessible information in their own languages and we expect this role to engage with this initiative closely.

Join us in driving innovation at the intersection of language technology and the social impact sector. Be a part of the 4BC initiative, contributing to impactful solutions that improve communication and collaboration in the community.

Responsibilities

Your primary role will be to coordinate efforts across two key dimensions:

1. 4BC network: The 4BC initiative is not something that CLEAR Global does alone. The initiative lives through the network of partners who shape, contribute to and gain from it. You will be mobilizing the network, facilitating conversations with partners in the network and extending it through outreach activities to enhance the impact of the 4BC initiative. This might include:

• Actively expanding and nurturing the 4BC network by identifying, engaging, and onboarding new partners and collaborators.

• Conducting interviews with stakeholders, experts, and partners to gather insights on their needs, challenges, and ideas for shaping the 4BC initiative

• Presenting and representing the 4BC initiative to potential partners and stakeholders

• Keeping the network informed and engaged (e.g. through regular updates, talks or virtual meet-ups)

• Engaging bilaterally with existing partners, identifying new partners, introducing them to the 4BC initiative and onboarding them

• Facilitate dialogue between different sectors to explore cross-cutting applications of language technology

2. Supporting the vision of language technology: The 4BC initiative is driven by a vision for the future of language technology, particularly in Africa, and the impact it can have for the social good. Your role will be to support this vision, ensuring that the strategic direction aligns with the needs of stakeholders and emerging trends. You will contribute to the ongoing development of key thematic areas and facilitate the dissemination of knowledge to ensure broad engagement. This might include:

• Coordinating discussions and workshops

• Shaping white papers, reports, and other key deliverables that reflect the vision of the initiative and its long-term goals in close collaboration with leadership team members and directors in CLEAR Global and beyond

• Actively participating in the conversation around the intersection of technology, language, and social impact, bringing together stakeholders to explore new possibilities and challenges in these areas

We expect that the primary outputs of this position in the first phase will be:

• The extended 4BC network including an overview of their needs, challenges and abilities

• A set of engagements on various topics like emerging tech, African tech, informed consent or AI for Agriculture, resulting in white papers or other summaries

We envision this position to focus on Africa while building the initiative overall.

Please note that these roles and responsibilities are approximate and may change over time, for instance, to include supporting the implementation of associated projects.

Qualifications

• You have proven professional experience and understanding of the language technology sector in Africa and its application to the humanitarian, international development and social impact sectors.

• You have a university degree in a relevant field; this could be computer science, AI, cognitive science, language or information technology.

• You have proven experience in stakeholder engagement, network building, and establishing coalitions

• You can work with a high degree of independence, tackle challenges proactively and have tolerance for change and uncertainty. Please help us to understand where you have shown this.

• This role will include many conversations with different people. Therefore, you should be a great communicator and listener who can facilitate conversations and discussions towards tangible outcomes.

• You are enthusiastic about CLEAR Global’s and the 4BC vision and agree with CLEAR Global’s basic beliefs and values.

• You have an existing network in the social impact, humanitarian or international development space and the technology space in Africa.

• We are a fully remote organization and you should be able to work virtually with team members based throughout the world.

• You have strong written, oral, and presentation skills in English. Additional languages, particularly including languages of Africa, as well as French are a great asset.

Job Requirements

The successful candidate will need to have access to a stable internet connection and a computer to be able to carry out the role.

About CLEAR Global

CLEAR Global exists to help people get vital information, and be heard, whatever language they speak. We believe that everyone has the right to give and receive information in a language and format they understand. We work with nonprofit partners and a global community of language professionals to build local language translation capacity, and raise awareness of language barriers. Our network of over 100,000 community members translate millions of words of life- saving and life-changing information a year.

Core values

CLEAR Global employees and volunteers are people who believe passionately about the value of this work and take personal responsibility for achieving the mission. CLEAR Global’s mission and organizational spirit embody the core values established in its strategic framework:

• Excellence: As the leading voice for communicating humanitarian information in the right language, CLEAR Global is a leader in the translation industry and in the non-profit sector.

• Integrity: CLEAR Global believes that every person, whether it’s the people who we serve, our volunteers or our staff, has value, deserves respect and has inherent dignity.

• Empowerment: CLEAR Global believes in using language to empower people around the world to control their own development and destiny.

• Innovation: CLEAR Global recognizes and celebrates the power of innovation to address humanitarian and crisis issues around the world.

• Sustainability: CLEAR Global recognizes that meeting our mission necessitates establishment and maintenance of a solid financial and organizational infrastructure.

• Tolerance: Our staff and volunteers are highly knowledgeable and skilled; value each other, our partner and our recipients; create a supportive work environment; and, conduct themselves professionally at all times.

CLEAR Global may re-advertise the vacancy, cancel the recruitment, offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration at its discretion.