Action Research to lead a Qualitative and Quantitative Research on Women`s Access to Justice
Duration: August – September 2017
Description of Project: The research was based on a feminist approach supported equality for women and men with a bias towards women and girls. With a purpose of ensuring equality and justice for all, Zimbabwe Women’s Lawyers Association (ZWLA) enabled women and children’s access to the justice delivery system through free legal aid provision, empowerment (giving advice and education to groups of people with similar matters focusing on procedural issues) and community legal education. With this background and inspiration, ZWLA received a strategic grant from Comic Relief to run a project with two complementary and interlinked pillars of access to justice and transformative justice. This action research aimed to; enhance programming on access to justice for ZWLA and other NGOs and; inform policies and women’s rights legislation.
Task: MDS made use of the existing quantitative data and qualitative data including case studies from women survivors told in their own words in accessing justice in communities. The team did a further primary research based on gaps identified from secondary data reviewed so as to achieve a comprehensive picture to access to justice. This also provided concrete recommendations to duty bearers and NGOs on how to better address the needs of survivors of violence by looking at awareness, capacity building and law reforms.