English Language Content Writer and Project Manager: 70 Words from India

About the project

In 2018 the British Council is celebrating 70 years of working together with our partners in India. A wide programme of activities is planned to mark this anniversary across our portfolios of work in English and Exams, Education and Society and the Arts, with an overarching aim of highlighting the positive cultural influences and exchanges between India and the UK during this period and in future. The 70 Words from India project aims to highlight how the English language has evolved and advanced with the inclusion of words of Indian origin.

The project will involve a widespread digital campaign to raise awareness of these words, describing their origin and definitions, providing opportunities for key personalities to reflect on the crossover between English and other Indian languages, and a public vote to choose the most popular words. A variety of content formats (text, visual arts, social media engagement) are planned to illustrate and share the chosen words and their definitions with audiences in India, the UK and around the world. 

About the role

We are seeking a consultant to help shape the project and take responsibility for the following activities:

• further develop the project concept and plan
• select and advise on the final list of 70 words that are currently in use in English but with roots in other Indian languages 
• write a short description of each word, to include interesting facts and examples of usage
• assist in identifying key personalities to approach for involvement in the project 
• assist with compiling the input from the personalities (likely to be both audio visual and text-based content)  
• liaise with designers and illustrators for completion of project collateral and outputs 
• assist with editing social media content and messaging about the project 
• assist with general project management as required. 

We anticipate that the project will involve a total of 15 consultancy days, to be completed by 30 April 2018. We expect to pay a fee of between £250 and £300 per day for this work, depending on experience.

Qualifications and experience required

Essential

• Strong written communication skills 
• Proven ability to write engaging content aimed at a varied audience (including for social media)
• Proven research skills to enable identification of words, their origins and key facts
• Project management experience
• Postgraduate qualification in applied linguistics or similarly relevant field.

Desirable

• Knowledge of linguistic landscape in India
• Experience of editing audio visual content for use on social media and websites.

If you are interested, please send the following information to mansi.thakral@britishcouncil.org with the title ‘English Language Content Writer and Project Manager: 70 Words from India’.

• CV tailored to the above requirements
• covering letter highlighting key achievements related to this project and a short statement of how you would approach the project (max 750 words).

Please note, we can only respond to successful applicants and only within five working days of the application deadline.