Extended localization - multiple applications

My organization uses WebObjects as its primary means for developing and
deploying dynamic Web applications. These applications are eventually likely
to be deployed across more than 10 European countries. At the moment, each
application contains a 'Localizable.strings' plist for each language that it
supports.

We are already running into problems with this approach. We will have a
requirement to share localized strings across multiple applications. We will
have another requirement for non technical Web producers to be able to
change the localizations in their own territory.

To meet these requirements I envisage some sort of localization database and
an editorial interface for producers to use. It might also be very useful to
be able to provide the producers with some context as to where the strings
get used, so that they understand the consequences of changes that they
make.

I am writing to the list to ask if anyone is willing to share any experience
with tackling this sort of problem and what might be the best approach to
take. I am getting very tired of receiving broken plist files, with badly
encoded two byte characters via e-mail and then having to make new releases
of the applications to deploy them!

--
James