A look back at the origins of midwifery for #ICM10

As we begin our celebration of the International Confederation of Midwives’ 100th anniversary, we’re looking back on centuries past. From the Stone Ages to modern day, midwives have shown up to stand with women. But where did it all begin? 

As we know today, a midwife is a person who graduated from an approved program that meets the essential competencies of International Confederation of Midwives (ICM). But midwifery is an ancient profession that is as natural and critical to humanity as birth itself, as it upholds and reflects the cultural practices of women and their families.  

In early 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic grew, ICM coordinated a global research study—funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Johnson & Johnson—to better understand the challenges and concerns of professional associations of midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study was to gather information from midwives’ associations across the world to determine the impact of the global pandemic. A descriptive cross-sectional survey using an on-line questionnaire was sent via email to every midwives’ association member of ICM. 

A total of 101 responses were received from across the globe between July 2020 and April 2021. All the regions and sub-regions where ICM has member organisations responded: Francophone and Anglophone Africa; North America and the Caribbean; Latin America; Western Pacific; Eastern Mediterranean; South East Asia as well as Northern, Central and Southern Europe. The study identified the sheer scale of many of the global issues facing midwives and women from the start of the pandemic until midway through 2021. The common themes included a lack of supply of PPE, the move to online and telephone consultations in addition to the uncertainty of where to give birth in the context of fear of infection and the changing status of maternity facilities becoming COVID-19 facilities. 

We're hiring!

ICM is growing, and we’re excited to be recruiting for the following roles: 

• Senior Finance Officer: The Senior Finance Officer is a member of ICM’s Operations & Change Team. For the period 2021-2023 ICM has an ambitious strategic plan with a large focus on building organisational sustainability. The Senior Finance Officer plays a crucial part in guaranteeing the smooth running of the day-to-day finance function at ICM. Additionally, the selected candidate will support the Finance & Quality Controller and the Leadership Team in working towards the successful implementation of the strategic plan, including financial sustainability. 

• Finance & Quality Controller: The Finance and Quality Controller operates at management level and is critical to the financial management of the ICM working with the Chief Executive and the Leadership Team to set financial policy and the annual and triennial budgets; maintain strong financial governance, data intelligence and financial processes and to ensure the financial integrity of ICM. 

• Governance Manager (Interim): The International Confederation of Midwives is recruiting a Governance Manager. This is an interim position for a period of 9 months to cover for the maternity leave of our current Governance Manager. The ICM Governance Manager is the interface between the senior management, Board Members, Committee Members and Council Delegates, providing seamless operational support as required. This is a key position instrumental in bringing the governance functions of the organisation together at an operational level. We anticipate the position holder to work at 0.8 FTE (30 hours per week). 

The PUSH Campaign is also hiring!

The PUSH Campaign has exciting new plans for 2022, and those include the recruitment and on-boarding of new team members.  

Are you passionate about midwifery & maternal and newborn health advocacy? Do you have experience managing communities, partners and/or multi-stakeholder initiatives? The PUSH Campaign is looking for two Regional Advocacy and Community Coordinators in the Africa and South-east Asia regions, respectively. Applications due before 17:00 CET on Monday, February 7, 2022. 

Board Briefer - February 2022

Dear midwives, colleagues and friends, 

I am Trude Thommesen, The ICM Board member representing Northern Europe. This is a Board briefer from the Board meeting that took place on January 27th. 

The Corona pandemic is still affecting the activity in ICM, particularly when it comes to face-to-face meetings. The Board has still not met each other in person, and we had hoped to meet for a week´s Board meeting in April.  However, the situation around the world is challenging and it is still difficult in many countries. The Board had a good discussion about the face-to-face meetings. Some thought it is difficult to have a hybrid meeting where only some of the BMs can participate, others reasoned that holding a face-to-face meeting was preferred. In the end we decided NOT to meet face-to-face but having a virtual Board week in April. 

The Board also discussed the upcoming Council meeting on the 21 and 22nd of June. We will make best use of the Council meeting by voting electronically on agenda items such as minutes from previous meetings, finances and membership, to give more time for discussion and interaction about the membership survey of ICM, and the celebration of the organization's 100th anniversary in 2022. 

In March-April this year Regional meetings will be held in the 6 Regions of ICM. The Board discussed and planned for these meetings, which will include a workshop where ICM´s Professional Framework will be discussed. In addition, current and relevant topics in the individual regions will be addressed and discussed. We are all looking forward to these meetings and hope to see many of you there! 

Rachel Firth from the ICM Communication Team orientated about the ICM 100 years anniversary and how ICM will promote this. Late last year, ICM announced that the theme for the International Day of the Midwife will be, “100 Years of Progress.” ICM will maintain this theme all throughout 2022. Through various campaigns and activities, ICM will celebrate the history of midwifery and all the highlights and achievements from the past century, as well as imagine and look forward to the progress that we still have yet to make as professionals, women and birthing people. Follow the ICM social media channels and sign up to our newsletter to participate in our ongoing celebration. 

This is all for now.  Take care, everyone!  We look forward to reporting on the next Board meeting in February and welcome any questions or comments you may have.