RWI Call for proposals: Survey of traditional leadership in Southern Africa

[[SAHRIT-Usharika]]

Survey of Traditional Leadership in Southern Africa

The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) is currently looking for a consultant or consultancy team to carry out a study of the legislation and policy provisions relating to traditional leaders in Southern Africa.

RWI is an academic institute aiming to advance knowledge and understanding of international human rights law and to promote respect for and fulfilment of human rights through research, education, and overall capacity building. For the past five years RWI and the Zambian organisation Women for Change have run a human rights capacity building programme for traditional leaders in the SADC region. An assumption of the programme has been that traditional leaders wield considerable power at the local level. From this, it is assumed that, provided with theoretical and practical human rights knowledge and skills, they will be able to both adhere to human rights in the exercise of their power as well as ensure that third parties do not violate the rights of those living in their communities.

The legal regulation of the institution of traditional leadership differs between the various countries in Southern Africa and as a consequence, the powers and functions given to traditional leaders also differ; both in law and in practice. As a point of departure for future activities, RWI wishes to clarify these legal and policy provisions in the countries of the SADC region. This will be done by carrying out a context analysis in the form of a survey detailing legislation and policy provisions relating to traditional leaders in the region, how these relate to current practice, as well as challenges posed in relation to international and regional human rights provisions. The results of the survey will feed into the planning of future capacity development activities and will be used to identify capacity gaps, programme activities to address these gaps, as well as to develop benchmarks and indicators for monitoring and evaluation.  

A detailed description of the aim and expectations of the survey are included in the attached terms of reference.

With this e-mail we would like to ask for expressions of interest from qualified persons interested in carrying out the survey on our behalf.

If you are interested in carrying out the study, please send a brief proposal including a budget by 2007-08-20 at the latest. We would also be grateful if you could circulate this call for proposals widely within your network.

Best regards,

Abigail Booth
RWI