Capacity building in African countries
Pan-African Masters Consortium on Interpretation and Translation (PAMCIT)
PAMCIT is the Pan-African Masters Consortium in Interpretation and Translation. Its aim is to establish a network of centres of excellence in those disciplines in Africa and to help train a sufficient number of students to work as highly qualified translators and interpreters to meet emerging needs, thus making a significant difference on the African market for conference interpretation and translation services.
The PAMCIT project contributes to the creation of decent jobs as interpreters and translators in Africa and also to capacity building in African continental and regional organisations where PAMCIT graduates are hired as freelancers or staff interpreters and translators.
More information about partner universities
The PAMCIT project is mainly funded by the EU (Pan-African Programme), it covers the period 2015-2019 and provides support to both universities and students.
DG Interpretation carries out complementary activities in the form of pedagogical assistance, consisting of a range of services such as participation at entrance exams, virtual classes and master classes and support during final exams, training of trainers, drawing up of standard masters matrix.
Female Interpreters for Africa at the European Development Days
For the second time, the Pan-African Masters Consortium in Interpretation and Translation (PAMCIT) will be present at the European Development Days, Europe's leading forum on international cooperation and development, on the 5th & 6th June in Brussels.
Funded by the EU and implemented by the United Nations Office at Nairobi, the PAMCIT programme aims to address the shortage of qualified African language professionals by training interpreters and translators. In order to achieve these objectives, the EU supports universities and students with facilities, specialist training and scholarships.
The overarching title of this year's forum will be "Women and Girls at the Forefront of Sustainable development: protect, empower, invest". The PAMCIT programme plays a vital part in increasing gender balance in interpreters' and translators' profession, thereby assisting women in entering high quality and sustainable jobs.
In Africa, interpretation is a largely male-dominated profession, whereas more than a half of the PAMCIT graduates are women. Obtaining a formal qualification can be beneficial for female interpreters to increase their chances of securing gainful employment in African contexts. Since the start of the PAMCIT programme in 2010, the number of female students taking the Masters has steadily increased, with a large pool of young female interpreters now in a position to access fulfilling and well-paid jobs. Graduates of the PAMCIT programme work as language professionals on the African continent. A number of them deploy their know-how at the service of interregional organisations such as the African Union, the African Development Bank or the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.
The PAMCIT project trains young African linguists; this includes those from under-represented groups such as women, exiled refugees and rural communities.
The PAMCIT programme is contributing to opening the professions of translation and interpretation to more women in African countries and by doing so, promoting African languages and giving a voice to the underrepresented gender.
Pan African Conference on Working with Languages in Local Communities
The Pan African Conference, facilitated by the Pan-African Masters Consortium in Interpretation and Translation (PAMCIT) is taking place in the UN Office in Nairobi, Kenya.
Over two days, from Wednesday 28 to Thursday 29 November, our Deputy Director General, Carlos Alegria, will attend and respresent SCIC alongside other colleagues. The event will be hosted by the UNON Director General, Mrs. Hanna Tetteh, and the PAMCIT Coordinator, Ms. Nina Okagbue.
The Pan-African Consortium in Interpretation and Translation - PAMCIT - is constituted by a core group of five African universities, chosen on the basis of a thorough analysis of their academic strengths and diversity of postgraduate studies on offer. The Consortium brings quality professional language training to gifted students and opens doors for them into high level international careers through internships and work placements. The programme offers a two-year Masters degree introduced to other Universities in the West and Central regions of Africa (Dakar, Accra, Buea, in Cameroon), with co-funding from the European Commission and UNON beginning in 2016.
Effective communication leads to understanding.
The Pan African Conference – the fourth since the inception of the “Africa Project” – is a call to researchers and academics in the field to assist language practitioners expand their knowledge base to include Public Service Interpreting and Translation at the decentralised level, and in African communities in particular. The rationale is that a lot of communication happens in cross-cultural settings where people speak and gesture in different languages. Therefore, there is a need for a professional interpreter or translator, someone who identifies with the culture(s) and is able to effectively translate/interpret without omission or addition as a result of intercultural and/or cross-cultural communication obstacles. This is where Pan African Conference findings shared with the estimated 50 participants can help to liaise with higher learning institutions and professional interpreters and translators to train more experts to meet emerging needs.
A live webstream has been made available in English and in French.
Thematic contributions from regional and international experts will include:
• Training experiences for interpretation and translation in community and/or humanitarian settings
• Methodological challenges in curriculum development for training modalities for interpretation in Sign Languages
• Cross-cultural communications - local language policies in African communities
Thirty selected panel members will bring together papers on topics such as: language mediation in the health and judicial sectors in Africa; innovative methodology for training community interpreters and translators for various settings; the role of educators in renegotiating the definitions and norms for training in community-based interpretation generally, and for the most vulnerable (e.g. Sign Language Interpretation) in particular.