Legislative Drafting Trainer

BACKGROUND AND RATIONAL

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) together with its partner Chapter One Foundation (COF) is implementing a 12-month rapid response project entitled “Promoting Constitutional and Legislative Reform in Zambia”. The project aims to support ongoing constitutional review and legislative reforms process through strategic litigation; comparative legal analyses of Zambian laws; facilitating trainings for Zambian lawyers and consultation meetings. One of the activities under the project is to enhance the legislative drafting skills of Zambian lawyers, particularly from a human rights-based perspective.

Currently, apart from the training offered by the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) there are limited opportunities for advanced legislative drafting training available to lawyers in country. Furthermore, there is minimal training on drafting legislation from a rights-based perspective. In this regard, ABA ROLI and COF intends to conduct a three-day training session on legislative drafting for twenty-five people. The training session will target lawyers working in civil society organizations and those that work on law reform processes with a bearing on human rights and rule of law.

OBJECTIVES OF THE WORK

The general objective is to enhance the capacity of lawyers and to help create a robust civil society that will adequately contribute to a legal reform process in Zambia, that aligns with Zambia’s regional and international standards.

SCOPE OF WORK

ABA ROLI intends to hire one expert trainer with extensive experience in legislative drafting and a strong grasp of regional and international standards and best practices. The expert will work in tandem with a local expert trainer with knowledge of Zambian national laws and experience in legislative drafting training under the Zambian curriculum as well as the country’s current legislative reform context.

The selected expert will design and administer a 3-day Legislative Drafting Training, along with the local expert. The specific deliverables include:

1. Develop a curriculum for a knowledge and skills training on legislative drafting, to include international principles and best practices.
2. Develop/provide reference and guidance materials, manuals and forms for participants to consult and learn about additional sources of information that can facilitate their work. The curriculum will be reviewed and approved by ABA ROLI and COF.
3. Co-conduct together with the local expert, the 3-day Legislative Drafting Training

The training will be participatory in nature, incorporating practical application of skills that are directly relevant to participants and the use of case studies where applicable. The expert will be expected to include information/tools particularly relevant to the target group.

DURATION OF CONSULTANCY

The consultancy will last for 5 working days including 2 preparation days. ABA will be responsible for the roundtrip ticket, accommodations and daily per diem for the consultant in Zambia for the training session.

PROFILE OF THE CONSULTANT

The suitable consultant should:

1. Have an Advanced Degree in law with a minimum of 10 years’ experience in legal drafting, legislative business, and other relevant fields.
2. Have a minimum of 5 years of professional work experience in the areas of human rights, democracy, constitutional law, criminal law, or law reform related work.
3. Experience in conducting/implementing similar training related to the promotion of human rights, democracy, rule of law, and constitutionalism.
4. Excellent analytical, presentation and communication skills are essential.
5. Excellent writing skills in and oral command of English.
6. Familiarity with countries in southern Africa and respective legislative reform processes an added advantage.

SELECTION OF THE CONSULTANT

The applicants should present:

1. A short proposal that explains the understanding of the assignment and explaining why he/she is most suitable for the assignment, including experience in similar assignments, providing brief information on qualifications, and brief methodology on how he/she will approach and conduct the work.
2. Resume with traceable references.
3. Daily rate.

The selection of the expert trainer will be based on the quality of the technical proposal, the experience of the consultant, and the financial proposal as the three main factors.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested and qualified applicants must submit their applications to [email protected], with the subject line reading “Zambia Legislative Drafting Expert Trainer”. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

ABOUT THE CONVENERS:

The American Bar Association –Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) is a public service project of the American Bar Association, with over 25 years of experience delivering international rule-of-law technical assistance, currently implementing programs in nearly 60 countries worldwide and over 10 countries in Africa. In Africa, ABA ROLI has been working for several years in close partnership with governments and civil society partners to increase access to justice and strengthen rule of law institutions to enhance protection for national populations, particularly the most marginalized in society.

Chapter One Foundation Limited (COF) promotes and protects human rights, human rights defenders, constitutionalism, social justice and the rule of law in Zambia, primarily through strategic litigation, advocacy and capacity building. Our aim is to promote and protect the Constitution and the rights included in it and by so doing, free the space for Zambians to fully participate in the democratic governance of the country.