Are you ready for #IDM2022?

WithWomen will raise vital funds to support midwives and midwifery around the world.

After more than two years of planning, ICM is thrilled to announce a partnership with the newly launched WithWomen charity. WithWomen will raise vital funds towards elevating the practice of midwifery and improving the birth experience for women and birthing people everywhere. WithWomen is the first global fundraising platform providing individual donors with the opportunity to directly support the life-enhancing, life-saving work of ICM and its more than 140 midwives’ associations. 
 
The funds raised by WithWomen will be used toward:  

•  Strengthening the capacity of ICM midwives’ associations 

• Strengthening education of midwives around the world 

• Providing direct, financial support to member associations in need, particularly those impacted by climate and/or humanitarian crisis. 

WithWomen’s launch comes at a period of rapid growth and demand for ICM’s work, where funding is vital for its ability to continue supporting and advancing midwifery and its member associations.  

You're invited! ICM's #IDM2022 Virtual Party  

On Thursday 05 May 2022, we invite our global midwife community to tune into our #IDM2022 virtual party where will celebrate ICM's 100th anniversary and the accomplishments of our member associations around the world. 

During the event, we will: 

• Imagine what our would look like if midwives received the enabling environment they deserve and require
• Hear a collection of #MidwifeMemories from our ICM Member Associations
• Learn from our colleagues at the White Ribbon Alliance about the results of the Midwives' Voices, Midwives' Demands survey and how to leverage these results within advocacy initiatives 
• Celebrate midwives and midwifery with our colleagues from around the world! 

Please note that we will hold this event twice to accommodate time zones around the world. Feel free to RSVP to and attend whichever event best fits your schedule. We can't wait to see you there! 

Are you ready for the International Day of the Midwife? #IDM2022

As we prepare to celebrate #IDM2022 on 05 May, we’re conscious that each passing year feels more significant for midwives and midwifery than the one before it. In 2020, we celebrated the WHO-sanctioned Year of the Midwife. Last year, we collaborated with UNFPA and WHO to release a very significant piece of midwifery research, The State of the World’s Midwifery (SoWMy) 2021 Report. And this year, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the International Confederation of Midwives. 

What these milestones don’t reflect is how every midwife — each of you — has contributed to the increase in awareness and representation our profession is receiving. We see it in the marches you lead, the demands you make and the women and newborns you support and protect. In marking ICM’s centennial, our goal is to ensure our global community recognises that this anniversary is so much more than an organisational achievement; It’s about exploring our collective and individual progress and acknowledging how far we have come. From the establishment of the first midwifery schools to the appointment of the first chief midwives and to the increasing numbers of direct-entry midwifery programmes and more and more women being able to access continuity of care from a known midwife, the past 100 years have seen the most consequential achievements of our age-old profession. And while we recognise the markers of progress look radically different from one region to the next, it’s important that we save space for our collaborative efforts and what the global evidence unequivocally indicates: increased investments in midwives and midwifery have led to healthier, happier families and communities in every corner of the world. 

As a global workforce and as individual midwives and midwives’ associations, we must continue advancing and mobilising this evidence to ensure the next 100 years are even more monumental for midwives, women, newborns and all people. IDM is an excellent opportunity to carry forward this advocacy work, and this toolkit provides the resources to do exactly that. While it’s important we leverage midwifery’s special day to amplify our life-promoting work and the causes we champion, it’s equally as essential to reserve time to celebrate– with colleagues, women and the entire profession. 

To that end, we hope to see you on May 5th for a global salute to midwives, an occasion that you’ll find more information about at the end of this toolkit. Until then, we encourage you to make use of this resource, not just on IDM but throughout ICM’s centennial year. Happy 100 years of progress and happy #IDM2022. 

Board Briefer - April 2022

Ann Kinnear, ICM Board Member Western Pacific
A warm hello to our members and partners. My name is Ann Kinnear. I am the ICM Board Member for the Western Pacific and I bring you this board briefer for Day 1 and 3 of a four-day Board meeting. We are meeting virtually for four days but hope to resume face to face meetings later this year. I am sharing this with my colleague, Vitor Varela, the ICM Treasurer.

The ICM Board week commenced on 25 April 2022 with the Board receiving reports from the Governance and Finance Audit and Risk Committees as well as detailed updates on progress with the current strategic plan, the first 12 months. Governance will be discussed on Day three. The Finance Audit and Risk Committee are focused on the Auditors report which includes the annual report and our financial statements in readiness for the upcoming ICM Council meeting.

The approach to the ICM Strategic Plan for the triennium 2021-2023 was to identify outcomes against the strategic priorities and then identify progress markers. This then led to activities to achieve the markers thus informing the ICM operational plan. In year 1, the focus has been on system improvement across governance, administration and operational activities setting the foundation for ICM to become sustainable. In 2022, the focus will be on a sustainability pla ensuring that ICM is effective and efficient. The Board provided overwhelming congratulations to our Chief Executive, Sally Pairman and the Head Office for the significant progress and achievements.

Linked to the strategic plan, information and discussions occurred on three key topics:

• The Resource Mobilisation Plan
• The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning system and
• The Member Associations Needs and Expectations Survey undertaken in 2021.

• What is urgent to work within the ICM in terms of Gender & Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion.
• What is your hope for deeper engagement with JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) and ICM?
  • We must talk on the Board together about JEDI.
  • It is an ongoing conversation/process.
  • We are not experts in the field, so we must trust each other to improve the way we communicate.

1. Advocacy and Communications Work Plan 2022 - Presented by Rachel Firth
   1. updates on the 100-year celebrations and the ICM History Project
   2. updates of Push Campaign
2. Workshop on Advocacy and Communications
   1. Definition of Advocacy
   2. Issues midwives face in their work & community
   3. Issues and solutions from Regional Advocacy Workshops (sharing)
3. Decision to recommend approval of the IEC ToR to Council (for Council meeting in June)
   1. document unanimously approved.
4. Reflection on Regional Meetings in March/April 2022 (together with HO staff)
   1. appreciation of the various experiences of the regional meetings between the regional representatives and the Head Office Regional Teams