Happy International Women's Day 2021!

ICM, through a global team of midwife researchers, is coordinating a global research study to understand the challenges and concerns of midwives’ associations during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that our research can raise awareness and build a greater understanding of the important role of midwives’ associations in supporting midwives and quality maternal and new-born health services for women and their families globally.  

We’ve currently received survey responses from more than half of our members and are looking to hear back from the rest of our midwives’ associations before the extended deadline of Sunday, 14th March — please complete this survey before this date to ensure the experiences of midwives and birthing women in your communities are reflected in our research. Kindly submit one collective response per association.

In 2018, ICM began developing a series of workshops on Respectful Maternity Care to present at our regional conferences in Dubai, Paraguay and Namibia. At each workshop, there was an overwhelming call for more education and support to change the behaviour of health workers caring for women during pregnancy and birth. Many recent studies show that disrespect and abuse of women are common, ranging from verbal abuse and physical violence to stigma and discrimination. 

Supported by UNFPA, the RESPECT toolkit provides step by step guidance on why and how to run a workshop on Respectful Maternity Care. In addition, we have added many videos, lesson plans, PowerPoint slides, and reference documents with a facilitator guide on how to go through each step of a workshop. It is intended these materials are adapted for local use, and are available in English, French and Spanish. 

Mentoring is a powerful leadership skill that ICM believes can support and encourage reflective practice, quality improvement, life-long learning and teamwork amongst midwives. With the support of UNFPA, ICM has developed a mentoring guide and corresponding mentoring programme. The programme has been designed for midwives who wish to become mentors, and can be used by midwives’ associations, midwifery schools and institutions, and in the workplaces of midwives. These resources will empower midwives to create a nurturing environment for others to learn and to role model respectful, high quality leadership. 

At the start of 2021, we released the latest ICM advocacy toolkit in our digital magazine, A Moment for Midwives; if you have not seen it yet, it is worth a read (here). The toolkit is filled with tips and strategies that Midwives' Associations, and individual midwives need to develop skills to address the range of issues impacting midwives and the women, newborns and communities they provide care to. Over the next few months in our newsletter, we will be picking out key themes as a refresher, and for those busy midwives who have not had time to delve into the full toolkit — this week is the importance of understanding your issue.  

So why is understanding your issue crucial for impactful advocacy? The first step to developing a successful advocacy strategy is identifying the issue you want to tackle and building consensus among everyone involved, as it brings all stakeholders/members together and lays the foundation for bringing about change. Try to identify a broad goal that reflects the priorities of participants. Once the group has reached an agreement on a goal, then you can begin to set your first objective — we will cover steps for setting an objective in April's newsletter. 

Established by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPPR), aims to provide an evidence-based path for the future to ensure countries and global institutions effectively address health threats. 

This past month, as part of a series of learning and listening events, the IPPPR heard from midwives directly involved in the pandemic response. The virtual conversation was anchored by the Rt Hon. Helen Clark and moderated by ICM Board Member, Hilma Shikwambi. ICM Chief Executive, Dr. Sally Pairman, along with midwife leader and women’s advocate, Eya Mwenifundo-Gondwe of the White Ribbon Alliance provided a global perspective of the impact of COVID-19 on midwives, while frontline midwives from around the world shared their experiences support birthing women and their communities throughout the pandemic. Access the event recording HERE. 

On behalf of the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife (YONM) Working Group, ICM invites its global midwife community to complete a survey to inform a policy brief on what is needed to better support breastfeeding women.  

Every month, our Board prepares a briefer to keep our global midwife community informed about its activities and the strategic direction of ICM. This month's briefer was prepared by ICM Vice President, Sandra Oyarzo Torres and Treasurer, Vitor Varela.

In last month’s newsletter, we shared the 2021 International Day of the Midwife theme in all three official ICM languages: English, French and Spanish. Since then, we’ve revised the French and Spanish wording of the theme as follows:  

• Spanish: Los datos hablan por sí mismos: invertir en las matronas 
• French: Les chiffres parlent d’eux-mêmes : investissez dans les sages-femmes

Thank you for your understanding!