According to the 2007 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey, over 40% of Zambian women have experienced some form of sexual or gender based violence. With high levels of discordance between couples and the vulnerability of young girls, the risk of spreading HIV due to rape or other forms of sexual violence is equally high. For the past two years, Zambia has benefited from resources provided through the Women's Justice and Empowerment Initiative (WJEI). This has brought technical assistance through the U.S. Department of Justice to focus on judicial and police training and increased support to survivors of sexual and gender based violence through the implementation of Coordinated Response Centers or one stop centers- which provide clinical, legal and other support services under one roof. What remains lacking in Zambia are the skills necessary to correctly gather evidence from crime scenes as well as process this evidence in an effort to convict perpetrators of sexual and gender- based violence.

Currently, Zambia has an existing treaty with the Government of South Africa whereby evidentiary exhibits related to criminal investigations are transported by Zambian police officers to a South African crime lab. This current arrangement exists due to the poor state of laboratory services within Zambia and is related to the level of training and skills of police officers to document, collect, and transport evidence from crime scenes to the laboratory for processing.

Within Zambia, the Lusaka based crime lab consists of four sections: Scene of Crime Investigation Extension; Fingerprint Bureau; Criminal Records Office; and Forensic Science Laboratory. The Scenes of Crime Investigation Extension is responsible for crime scene processing, evidence collection and preservation, and dispatching evidence for analysis. These duties are performed by crime scene technicians. The Fingerprint Bureau maintains finger print records (inked cards) for comparison that date back to 1954; they are currently undergoing computerized storage. The Criminal Records Office is the national repository for all criminal records. Records date back to 1954 and are currently undergoing computerization.

The Forensic Science Laboratory receives evidentiary exhibits from crimes scenes for examination and analysis, lends support to the crime scene investigators, and presents testimony in court regarding the facts and circumstances related to the evidence analyzed. Currently, the laboratory lacks capacity to examine and analyze evidence, thus samples are sent to South Africa for processing. The current system lacks adequate facilities, trained human resources, and necessary equipment to carry out forensic examination and analysis of exhibits.

This program will continue to receive support from the WJEI in a wrap-around fashion where training services will be provided by the Department of Justice Advisors and services for victims of sexual and gender-based violence will be provided through USG's support to "A Safer Zambia" (ASAZA) program as well as the one-stop centers. This program will also complement an existing cooperative agreement with University Teaching Hospital (UTH) that investigates child sexual abuse at the family support units in Lusaka and in Livingstone General Hospital. In these programs, plainclothes policewomen assist medical and social service personnel to appropriately document injury collect evidence and maintain a chain of evidence to support the justice system. Having a forensic laboratory that can assist in identifying perpetrators of sexual violence will improve convictions and serve as deterrence for would be offenders. This will ultimately assist in HIV prevention due to sexual violence.

Activities will focus on creating the conditions necessary to gather and process evidence from crime scenes and medical examinations, particularly those where sexual or gender based crimes are believed to have been committed. This will include testing for physical evidence of abuse. Resources will be used to procure equipment and refurbish existing facilities in order to establish a functioning lab so that evidence can be processed locally rather than in South Africa. Resources will also be utilized to support the training of crime scene investigators in order to ensure that evidence collected can be appropriately analyzed; this will include training on crime scene investigations, with the necessary photographic equipment and skills and ability to maintain the integrity of specimens gathered at the scene.

Within the laboratory area, activities will be linked with ongoing support for the procurement and maintenance of equipment and reagent purchases related to the identification through DNA testing, blood grouping, and other laboratory tests and through culposcopy with photogenic evidence of injury. Training will ensure prompt and appropriate referral for anti-retroviral therapy as post-exposure prophylaxis. While the forensic and medical labs will need to be separate, the procurement and management will be integrated to avoid duplication and ideally result in overall cost savings.

Training for police officers will be linked to ongoing efforts of the WJEI program to educate personnel on the needs of victims of sexual and gender based violence. Training itself may be provided by the Department of Justice personnel or through linkages within their program.

Education and promotion of services, including the enhancements expected through this support will also be communicated through the ongoing one-stop centers and ASAZA program.