Language Solutions for Education in Emergencies

This webinar, hosted by INEE and Translators without Borders (TWB), discussed language solutions for education in emergencies. Making materials accessible and easy to understand is vital in education in emergencies. This applies to teacher training materials, community engagement campaigns, field guides for humanitarian workers, classroom materials, and much more. 

These themes were identified as key topics of interest in the results of the survey on language in EiE that INEE and TWB conducted in June 2019. Read below for more about the two topics that will be presented during the webinar. (Click to see the survey results summary in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic.) 

Plain Language - Plain-language writing has clear potential to help humanitarian organizations communicate more effectively with each other and with the populations they support. A growing body of evidence confirms that plain-language writing improves readers' comprehension, retention, and recall. Despite being a deceptively simple term, plain language involves much more than using simple words and avoiding humanitarian jargon. In this session, TWB's Plain Language Adviser will explain some key plain-language principles and use examples to show how they can result in clearer communication.

Language Technology - Many, if not most, of the 177 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in the world today cannot communicate with aid workers. They can't be understood and can’t understand vital information about education provision because it's not in their language. If they do attend school, for many the classroom materials will be in a language they do not speak. Advanced language technology can help bridge this language gap. In this session, learn how machine translation can change the way humanitarian organizations communicate. TWB will present how its Gamayun Project ensures all voices are heard, regardless of language or literacy.

Webinar Recordings and Presentation

This webinar was held twice, with the same presentations, but differing Q&A sessions. Click on the videos below to begin watching, or watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/a3zE6qEJ3Yo (Oct 16) or https://youtu.be/UkOTbww40eQ (Oct 18).

October 16

October 18

The views expressed in this webinar are the presenters' own.