Strengthening Midwives Associations’ systems, skills, structures and strategies, empowers the associations with the capacity to identify challenges, develop context appropriate solutions for problems. Robust systems enable Midwives Associations to initiate interventions targeted at resolving identified problems; and to identify suitable partners to work with in order to address challenges.
It is imperative for midwives in each country to take their position as critical care providers especially for women, newborns, children and families. Evidence abounds that midwives save lives when they are well educated, regulated and supported through a strong association. ICM through its strengthening Midwives Associations programme facilitates midwives to optimise their value, take their position in care provision and contribute to policy making and effective implementation. However, in countries with a high rate of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality, midwifery and midwives are often of a very low status matching the status of women. With this backdrop, ICM developed the Twinning approach as one of the strategies for strengthening Midwives Associations. By strengthening Midwives Associations, countries are able to benefit fully from their midwifery workforce. Strong Midwives Associations unify midwives; give them a sense of belonging and identity and maximise their contribution to the provision of maternal newborn and child health care within the context of their Ministry of Health’s strategic plans. Due to the various developments taking place in the field of maternal, newborn and child health, midwives need to have a strategy which enables them to learn from others and to share their knowledge. Strong Midwives Associations give midwives a voice within their countries. They are able to take on the roles of advocacy, lobbying for better working conditions for themselves and for the families they serve. They are able to promote the profession of midwifery within their communities, to improve the image of midwives and increase the number of families accessing their services.ICM is using Twinning as one of the strategies to facilitate the development of collaborative relationships which are aimed at mutual learning, support and development among Midwives Associations. ICM’s first experience with initiating and supporting twinning relationships between Midwives Associations was with the Sierra Leone Midwives Association (SLMA) and the Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives (KNOV). Since then ICM has engaged in initiation of new twinning relationships between Midwives Associations informed by the lessons learnt from the SLMA/KNOV experience. This manual is intended to assist Midwives Associations, and other organisations that plan to engage in a Twinning relationship. The content is based on ICM’s experience with initiating Twinning relationships for ten countries over a period of five years.