Guidelines for Translations and Reproductions

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Getting Started

First and foremost, please inform the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Coordinator for Minimum Standards (minimumstandards@ineesite.org) of the translation you are planning to carry out. This will allow for the information to be shared more widely with other INEE members and also for the INEE Working Group on Minimum Standards and INEE Secretariat to provide the necessary support where required.


Translating the Text

  1. Get an advisory group of mother-tongue “educationalists” and “humanitarians” from different agencies working in the country/language to meet in order to agree on terminology, key terms and concepts, and the translation process. (See Key Terms and Concepts below)
  2. Identify and use a professional translator, preferably someone that is familiar with humanitarian work.
  3. Ideally, the advisory group could propose/appoint a contact person for the translator to be in contact with during the whole process (See Communication Channel).
  4. Identify and use a professional proofreader other than the translator. (See Proofreading)
  5. After the proofread, reconvene the group of mother-tongue “educationalists” and “humanitarians” from different agencies to review the final draft and agree on any final edits.

Producing the Handbook

  1. The back cover and the copyright page (usually either the inside of the front cover or the first page) must reflect both the source of the new document and the authorship of the original.
  2. The authorship of INEE must be acknowledged. Please make sure that inside the publication (on the copyright page) a note is made to acknowledge the original publication, using the following format:.

    3. “This <language> edition of <title> is published by <publisher> of <address> in 20xx. This is a translation from the <original language> edition of <title>, first published in 20xx under the ISBN <insert original ISBN>”

  3. Indication of INEE Secretariat contact details is mandatory: www.ineesite.org and minimumstandards@ineesite.org. Contact details of the producer and distributor of the new publication should also be included.
  4. It is essential that a disclaimer stating that “This handbook was independently translated by the following agencies…” is included inside the front cover of the document. Please note, however, that no institutional logos should be inserted.
  5. The ISBN and bar code of the INEE Minimum Standards handbook must be removed from the cover of the new publication. The ISBN and bar code are unique to each language and the publisher; you can apply for an ISBN from your local ISBN agency (for information see http://www.isbn-international.org/en/agencies.html). Where there is no ISBN issuing agency you can either use one issued for a participating agency in another country (for example, 92 is the ISBN prefix used by international agencies and UN organizations), or simply not include an ISBN.

Disseminating the Handbook

  1. The translation must be made available to all actors in the humanitarian assistance community (i.e. shared) regardless of who undertakes the work.
  2. No agency, collections of agencies or individuals may realize any financial gain from the translated text.
  3. The organization(s) in charge of the translation must send the final soft copy to the INEE Coordinator for Minimum Standards by e-mail (minimumstandards@ineesite.org) and a few copies of the final hard copy (mailing address will be provided by email). INEE reserves the right to post the translated text on the INEE website for other INEE members to access, acknowledging the contributions of the organizations which coordinated the translation and production of the INEE Minimum Standards Handbook.

Useful Practices

Key Terms and Concepts: As described in Translating the Text, get consensus on key terminology and concepts AND/OR use an already approved glossary (i.e. UNHCR, UNICEF) and make clear to your translator this is the terminology to be used. You may also contact the INEE Secretariat (minimu mstandards@ineesite.org) for a list of key terminology on which you may gain consensus.

Communication Channel: It is essential to effectively communicate with your translator, especially at the beginning of the process. This would be the responsibility of the contact person, ideally a native speaker with excellent writing skills, working for an agency involved in disaster response. This person would be willing to spend some quality time reviewing first few pages of the translation and to be in regular contact with the translator.

Proofreading: If your resources permit, hire a proofreader to review the whole translation (make sure s(he) knows about the key terms, concepts and terminology that your advisory group has already agreed upon) for grammar, punctuation, proper page order, etc. If resources are limited, the contact person could do this review.