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 seeks to file 2 other high impact cases in Malawi and Zimbabwe, (1 in Zimbabwe and 1 in Malawi) that decriminalise abortion, these cases will focus on removing specific criminal sanctions against abortion from the laws , and changing the law , related policies and regulations to achieve the following.

It is against this background that WLSA intends to engage a consultant who will develop a strategic impact litigation toolkit for Malawi and Zimbabwe. The strategic impact litigation toolkit will be for legal practitioners to use to sustain and develop successful impact litigation cases. The strategy toolkit will be written in plain language to increase accessibility by everyone including community leaders, lawyers, women human rights defenders and all key stakeholders who often do not appreciate the essence of strategic/ impact litigation in reproductive justice in Zimbabwe.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives
The primary objectives of the toolkit are:
i. To assess the current legal, policy, and service delivery landscape regarding TOP in Zimbabwe.
ii. To identify barriers and facilitators to safe and legal termination of pregnancy.
iii. To develop strategic recommendations and interventions that can improve access, safety, and quality of TOP services.
iv. To produce a comprehensive, user-friendly toolkit that stakeholders can utilize for planning, advocacy, and implementation.

Scope of Work
The consultant will be responsible for the following:
• Carrying out desk research on TOP Laws in Zimbabwe and Malawi.
• Conduct a situational analysis of existing policies, laws, and healthcare infrastructure related to TOP in Zimbabwe and Malawi.
• Review best practices and evidence-based interventions from similar contexts.
• Identify gaps, challenges, and opportunities within the current system.
• Develop strategic components, including advocacy strategies, service delivery models, training modules, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
• Draft, review, and finalize the toolkit with input from stakeholders.

Final Deliverables:
• A comprehensive toolkit that can be used by lawyers, and other stakeholders and understood by lay persons on carrying out strategic impact litigation specific to termination of pregnancy in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

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 toolkit 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 [email protected]