Terms of Reference: Impact Litigation Strategy on Termination of Pregnancy in Zimbabwe and Malawi

Experience
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 Experience 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.

Key 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.

Requirements 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.

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.

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 .
4. Academic certificates