Capacity Building
Building Health Policy Engagement Capacity
This is an intervention aimed at building the capacity of policy makers, key populations, CSOs, communities and community-based organisations to comprehend health law and policy and be able to effectively engage with national policy processes for positive health outcomes. It provides a platform for citizens to define the ‘health system’ they want.
Capacity Interventions/Enhancement of policy makers, key populations and communities on health law and policy
Training sessions on health law and policy are conducted for identified target groups and also upon request from target communities and civil society organisations. Short sessions like meetings with parliamentarians are held to capacitate them with knowledge on policy and health issues that relate to their contemporary law-making duties in Parliament.Â
Training of communities and key populations is aimed at providing the requisite literacy and competencies to allow them to participate in policy processes, including interpreting policy and its impact on their access to quality health services and other determinants of health. The HLPC has trained advocacy committees of PLHIV at the community level, and this has facilitated advocacy for access to health services for PLHIV. The capacity of target populations and advocates to track the development and implementation of legislation, regulatory and policy documents is emphasised.
Training of Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) personnel on Human Rights.
The HLPC has assisted with the human rights and law training of health personnel in the ten provinces of Zimbabwe under the PMTCT programme of the MoHCC through its expert reference group. MoHCC trainings cover the national validation exercise on the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis in newborn babies. Beyond law and human rights, expertise has been provided to the MoHCC on Community Rights and Gender (CRG) capacity building in this exercise.
Training of sex workers and LGBTIQ as para-legal
Training of sex workers as para-legals is an access to health justice initiative that seeks to empower the target population with awareness of rights and laws, competency to demand rights and capacity to identify violations and seek redress. Our training of sex workers in law, policy and human rights aspara-legals or semi-para-legals is aimed at building sustainable interventions among sex workers, equipping them with requisite skills and competencies to promote and defend their rights. The training of sex workers as para-legals is not just a women's empowerment effort for the women involved in sex work. It looks beyond enhancing rights and law literacy among sex workers to building best practices for a select sex work cadre of volunteers who go into communities as para-legal peer volunteers. The urgent need to address stigma, violence against women (VAW), access to essential health care, exclusion, legal barriers, access to justice and lack of knowledge on human rights and law has placed sex workers’ capacity building training as para-legals a key issue for any meaningful intervention. Trained sex workers (male, female and transgender) will be equipped with a repertoire of tools including mediation, negotiation, education, advocacy and legal advice for those accessing both formal and customary law institutions.
