Job Description
Background
There is acute awareness of the high level of unlawful and unsafe terminations of pregnancies in countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC region). This come at the background of persistent restrictive laws and policies on termination of pregnancy.
In Zimbabwe and Malawi termination of pregnancy remains restrictive. The Constitution of Zimbabwe (Amendment No.20) Act 13 guarantees the right to health care for all in section 76. Despite the constitutional provisions, the “health for all” objective is yet to be realised in Zimbabwe, especially for women and young girls as gender disparities continue to exist. The women’s health service delivery and rights, particularly sexual reproductive rights situation in Zimbabwe is negatively affected by a complex array of governance and systems challenges. These include the retrogressive laws and practices which undermine women and girls’ decision-making powers over their bodies and harmful patriarchal norms and systems which create substantial health rights barriers for women. Examples of such laws include the Termination of Pregnancy Act [Chapter 15:10] (TOP Act) of 1977, that criminalises abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or when a woman’s life is at risk. These legal restrictions on abortion do not reduce the number of abortions but increases the number of abortions that are unsafe. In addition to legal restrictions, regulatory requirements such as approvals and mandated waiting times, stigma, economic factors, and service delivery factors such as lack of providers due to refusals and/or long distance to facilities also act as barriers to access which may result in women/girls turning to unsafe measures.
Decriminalization is a necessary step for the legalization of abortion, but ensuring that abortion is available, accessible and of high quality may require further legal or regulatory changes beyond decriminalization, including, strategic impact litigation. In November 2024, WLSA was granted a judgment in the High Court of Zimbabwe where it sought to challenge the constitutionality of s2 of the TOP Act which provides for permissible grounds under which pregnancy can be terminated. WLSA sought for this provision to include victims of marital rape and children below the age of 18 years who fall pregnant. The case is now awaiting confirmation by the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe.
WLSA also established a network of young legal practitioners who are keen on challenging the TOP law in Zimbabwe. This network can be equipped to litigate and could be useful in challenging the TOP Law. However, a clear litigation strategy must be in place to guide litigation around the TOP Act.
It is against this background that WLSA intends to engage a consultant who will develop an impact litigation strategy to be used by legal practitioners, and other CSO’s working on sexual and reproductive health rights.
Duties and Responsibilities
Objectives
The primary objective of the strategy is to:
i. Guide WLSA, legal practitioners, and other interested CSO’s on how to successfully litigate around sexual and reproductive health rights, particularly on termination of pregnancy.
ii. To provide a guide on how to identify and strategically select legal cases that can lead to the reform of restrictive abortion laws and policies.
iii. To facilitate the development of legal arguments that expand women’s reproductive rights.
3. Scope of Work
The consultant will be responsible for the following:
• Carrying out desk research on TOP Laws in Zimbabwe and Malawi.
• Analysis of approaches by other legal practitioners or CSO’s in the region and also internationally.
• Developing a 5-year- litigation strategy for WLSA that will ensure the successful challenge of the TOP Act.
• Conduct comprehensive legal and contextual analysis of Zimbabwe’s abortion laws, policies, and relevant jurisprudence.
• Develop legal arguments and case strategies aligned with constitutional rights, international human rights standards, and best practices.
Final Deliverables:
• A comprehensive impact litigation strategy.
Qualifications and Experience
Qualifications and Experience
The consultant should have:
1. A Bachelor of Laws Honours Degree,
2. A Master’s Degree in Women’s Law or Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights.
3. At least 10 years of proven experience in law, sexual and reproductive health rights, or women’s rights.
4. Experience in research and production of policy and practice analysis papers.
5. Familiarity with gender-sensitive language.
How to Apply
Application Process
Interested candidates/organizations are invited to submit:
1. A technical proposal outlining their approach to the strategy including methodology, and timeline.
2. Portfolio of previous work (links, etc).
3. CV which includes 3 traceable references.
4. Academic certificates
Submission Deadline
Proposals must be submitted by 30 June 2025 to procurement315@gmail.com
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