Short-Term
Consultancy
Name of the
project:
00062156 – Fostering Equitable Access to Justice for all: ´´Promoting GBV
Awareness and Gender Equality in the Criminal Justice System in Rwanda´´
Location: Kigali with travels to the
Field whenever required
Position: 2 consultants. 1 lead
consultant specializing in Gender and Human Rights and 1 legal consultant specializing
in the Rwandan Criminal Justice system and international criminal law with
extensive skills in training techniques.
Duration: 3 months for the Lead
consultant and 3 weeks for the legal consultant based on the calendar that will
be established by the Secretariat of LAP and will be annexed to these terms of
reference.
Context and
Background
The Legal Aid Forum
(LAF) is a national civil society network of legal aid service providers,
comprising of 37 organizations. Our membership ranges from national and
international NGOs, trade unions, faith-based associations, professional bodies
and University legal aid clinics, all working towards improving access to
justice, legal aid and Human rights education in Rwanda. For more information,
you can visit us on www.legalaidrwanda.org
Children, women and
people living with HIV/AIDS are among the most vulnerable in accessing justice
and having their rights respected. In fact, social, cultural, economic and
legal barriers contribute to enhance their level of dependence and
vulnerability. The situation is especially critical in cases related to
gender-based violence (including domestic and sexual violence), stigma and
discrimination, violation of sexual and reproductive rights, limited access to
and management of income, assets and property.
In order to break
the circle of poverty and ensure the protection and promotion of human rights,
it is necessary to adopt a comprehensive approach that will contribute to
strengthening access to justice while promoting gender equality and women and
girls’ empowerment. To achieve such goals, it is necessary to put in place
strong and sustainable gender-sensitive, mechanisms for the provision of
equitable and accessible legal aid services. Awareness raising initiatives
concerning the rights of vulnerable groups and individuals as well as capacity
building processes for legal aid providers and the personnel of the criminal
justice system also need to be implemented on a broad scale focusing on
relevant gender-sensitive issues.
As a matter of fact,
a recent baseline survey on legal aid delivery (June 2012) has identified
gender-based violence as one of the main legal issues reported to legal aid
providers. Due to the extreme sensitivity of the issue, it is possible to argue
that many cases concerning domestic and sexual violence, child abuse and
discrimination related to HIV/AIDS are not even disclosed or reported. Because
of the higher level of vulnerability and exposure to abuse associated to women
and children, and due to the significant incidence of such cases in Rwanda, it
is therefore fundamental to ensure that the cases of women and children´s
rights violations receive special attention and are adequately addressed.
The Legal Aid Forum
has received funding from UN Women and would to use part of it to hire
competent and skilled consultants as mentioned above to work on this project.
Scope and
methodology of the Assignment
In a short survey,
Collect data and information related to GBV case backlogs which will be
conducted in sampled courts from 10 districts covering 4 provinces and the City
of Kigali, at prosecution offices police stations and a few other stakeholders
working on GBV;
Gather disaggregated
information concerning the frequency and types of gender-based violence cases
such as domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, sexual harassment,
exploitation etc pending before the courts;
A qualitative
approach that aims at analyzing the main challenges related to handling GBV
cases by the Criminal justice agencies.
Capacity building
which will be carried out through training sessions for the personnel of the
criminal justice agencies. The training will target 60 participants from
criminal justice agencies.
Roles of the
Consultants
LEAD
CONSULTANT
- Under
the overall guidance and direction of the coordinator of the Secretariat
of LAF, the consultant will supervise and coordinate the project; - Develop
data collection tools and data collection methodology; - Train
data collectors on data collection methodology ; - Supervise
data collection ; - Enter
and analyze data/information collected; - Prepare
the report; - Based
on the survey funding and together with the Legal consultant, prepare an
outline of the content of the training on GBV laws and policies in Rwanda,
Gender principles and concepts and gender dimensions of legal cases dealt
with by the criminal justice agencies in Rwanda; - Together
with the legal consultant, prepare training modules to be used in the
training; - Together
with the legal consultant, conduct the training of selected criminal
justice agencies; - Together
with the legal consultant, prepare training report that will highlight
les-sons learnt, challenges, expectations of the trainees etc; - In
conjunction with LAF Secretariat, prepare final narrative report of the
project to be submitted to UN Women. - Any
other task strictly and directly related to the project as approved by the
Coordinator of the Secretariat of LAF.
LEGAL
CONSULTANT
- Under
the overall guidance and direction of the coordinator of the Secretariat
of LAF and direct supervision of the lead consultant, collect and analyze
policies and legislation on GBV in Rwanda; - Based
on the survey funding and together with the Lead consultant, prepare an
outline of the content of the training on GBV laws and policies in Rwanda,
Gender principles and concepts and gender dimensions of legal cases dealt
with by the criminal justice agencies in Rwanda; - Together
with the lead consultant, prepare training modules to be used in the
training; - Together
with the lead consultant, conduct the training of selected criminal
justice agencies; - Together
with the lead consultant, prepare training report that will highlight
lessons learnt, challenges, expectations of the trainees etc;
Profile of
the consultants
LEAD CONSULTANT
- Advanced
degree in gender studies, law, development studies or a related field with
over 3 years experience; - Knowledge
and experience in Access to Justice, GBV and Human Rights; - Ability
to conceptualize and analyze research data and present findings in a clear
and concise manner; - Fluent
written and spoken English or French (with a strong working knowledge of
the other language); - Experience
working with standard IT packages: Word, Excel, Power Point, SPSS etc; - Ability
to use Internet tools for research purposes; - Availability
and self-motivated.
LEGAL
CONSULTANT
- Advanced
degree in law with over 3 years experience in criminal justice system; - Experience
in conducting trainings; - Knowledge
and experience in Access to Justice, GBV and Human Rights; - Ability
to conceptualize and analyze research data and present findings in a clear
and concise manner; - Fluent
written and spoken English or French (with a strong working knowledge of
the other language); - Experience
working with standard IT packages: Word, Excel, Power Point, SPSS etc; - Ability
to use Internet tools for research purposes; - Availability
and self-motivated.
How to
apply :
Interested
individuals should submit their applications, addressed to The Coordinator of
the Legal Aid Forum, not later than Thursday
29 October 2012 at 3pm. Applications should include both
technical and financial proposals, candidate´s CVs plus a cover letter
explaining why he/she feels qualified to carry out this consultancy.
Candidates can
submit their applications either electronically at legalaidrwanda@gmail.com or
hand delivery to Secretariat of the Legal Aid Forum, Kimihurura P.O.BOX 5225, —
Rwanda. For further information you can call (+250) 078 830 7174.
Andrews
Kananga,
Coordinator/Head
of Secretariat
