International Confederationof Midwives
Strategic Plan 2021-2023

International Confederationof Midwives
Strategic Plan 2021-2023

Table of Contents
List of Acronyms
I. Executive Summary
II. Introduction
III. Strategic Priorities

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List of Acronyms
International Confederation of Midwives
ICM
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex
LGBTQI
Member Associations
MAs
Member Association Capacity Assessment Tool
MACAT
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
SRHR
Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health SRMNCAHState of the World’s Midwifery
SoWMy
Strengthening Midwifery Services
SMS
Sustainable Development Goals
SDGs
Young Midwife Leaders
YMLs
Universal Health Coverage
UHC
United Nations Population Fund
UNFPAWhite Ribbon Alliance
WRA
World Health Organization
WHO

With a unique and vital role as the only organisation
specifically focused on supporting associations of
midwives and their midwife members around theworld, ICM is recognised as a leader in providing
knowledge, resources, and support to the midwifery
profession.

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I. Executive Summary

With a unique and vital role as the only organisation specifically focused on
supporting associations of midwives and their midwife members around the world,
ICM is recognised as a leader in providing knowledge, resources, and support to the
midwifery profession. ICM has and continues to also solidify its added value to thebroader landscape of partners by contributing to improving sexual, reproductive,
maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (SRMNCAH), gender equality, andequal access to quality health care for women and communities.
With this role comes the responsibility to serve as a convenor, connector, andcatalyst, both within the midwifery sector and outside – representing the interestsof Member Associations (MAs) and midwives across new sectors, allies outside of
the midwifery space, decision-makers, and non-traditional partners, and expanding
the recognition and support that midwives receive. Refining this role required taking
stock of what has worked for ICM in the past, what needs to shift and adapt to achanging global health and development landscape, and what areas ICM should
focus on in the next three-year strategic plan (January 2021-December 2023).

ICM has and continues to also solidify its added
value to the broader landscape of partners bycontributing to improving sexual, reproductive,
maternal, newborn, child, and adolescenthealth (SRMNCAH), gender equality, and equal
access to quality health care for women andcommunities.

The development of the 2021-2023 ICM strategic plan came at a time when theorganisation was also assessing and updating the Professional Framework for
Midwifery and internally piloting the Member Association Capacity Assessment Tool
(MACAT)2, which focuses on assessing the operational capacity of the organisation(e.g. governance, management, human resources, budgeting, etc.). The strategicplanning process also aligned with the Year of the Midwife in 2020, and with plansto roll out the “Decade of the Midwife” campaign with other partners in 2021. This
process allowed ICM to focus and define the way forward through a holistic approachthat will further enhance its impact and reach.
The resulting three-year strategic plan (2021-2023) builds on key areas of successand lessons learned, leverages ICM’s unique value added and niche in the landscape,and reflects inputs from across the organisation as well as from key external partners
and donors. The strategic plan positions ICM as a partner, advocate, technicaladviser, and knowledge base for midwives’ associations and midwives around theworld, allowing the organisation to grow and expand in tailored ways that will makethe largest impact on the profession of midwifery, with broader impacts on genderequality, human rights, diversity, and universal health coverage. The core strategic
priorities for 2021-2023 are summarised below.

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The MACAT was originally developed for Midwives’ Associations to assess their organisational capacity, but it wasadapted for use by ICM Head Office in 2020.

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ICM Strategic Priorities 2021-2023
Goal: Position ICM as an expert in creating, advising, influencing, andenabling the profession of midwifery globally.
Strategic Priority 1: Drive innovation and sustainability for the future of
midwifery••••

Ensure a sustainable ICM, including human, social, economic, and environmental
elements
Utilise and promote more digital and mobile tools and knowledge management
resources to reach and support midwives and their associations (including atdifferent stages of their professional development, and in different country
contexts, digital access, and languages)
Facilitate an agile ICM that is constantly learning and responding to the needs of
its members in new and improved ways
Foster and build the next generation of midwives while leveraging the knowledge
and wisdom of older generations, fostering cross-generational learning

Strategic Priority 2: Develop, strengthen, and support the rollout of a new
professional framework for midwifery••••

Promote midwifery as an autonomous profession with a distinct philosophy andapproach to care
Facilitate an enabling environment for midwives
Strengthen midwifery education, regulation, associations, leadership, and modelof careSynthesise and drive research, evidence, and essential competencies for the
profession of midwifery

Strategic Priority 3: Foster a movement for midwifery, enabling andstrengthening partnerships, advocacy, and communications for midwifery,with women’s voices at the centre••

Leverage advocacy and communications to influence and educate policy-makers
and wider audiences on the impact of and need for midwives
Utilise effective and equitable relationships to build and support the professionof midwifery and expand the influence of ICM• Build up partnerships between women and midwives, from the individuallevel, to the community level, to the global level (women’s rights andempowerment, woman-centred, respectful care, and gender equality)• Support partnerships between midwives (support for MAs, mentorship,strong regional support, twinning)• Strengthen partnerships between midwives and other stakeholders, including
global and national policy-makers, other health professionals (obstetricians,
paediatricians, nurses), traditional caregivers, other health workers andassociations, and partners across sectors (SRHR, Women’s Rights, UHC, etc.)

Strategic Priority 1: Drive innovation andsustainability for the future of midwifery

Cross-cutting: Promote gender equality by employing a gender lens andprioritisation across all elements of the strategic plan
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II. Introduction
With the current strategic plan coming to a close in 2020, ICM was at a pivotal
juncture in its organisational history. Developing a sound strategic plan is a powerfultool to help drive priorities, expand visibility, and achieve the vision – ICM envisions
a world where every childbearing woman has access to a midwife’s care for herself andher newborn. With a rich history rooted in supporting Member Associations (MAs)and midwives, ICM has stayed true to its core mission, while supporting MAs andmidwives in the six focus regions and undertaking a series of partner collaborations
and successful projects and programmes (e.g. The 50,000 Happy Birthdays project,
The Young Midwife Leaders (YML) project, and the Strengthening Midwifery Services(SMS) programme, etc.)
Building from the impressive work undertaken to date and the 2017-2020 strategicplan, this strategic plan positions ICM to more effectively deliver on its mission, andoutlines a vision for the future that is both realistic and aspirational. A forwardlooking strategy for ICM offers an exciting opportunity for the organisation tobuild on the current strengths and successes, while being proactive and innovative
about the vision for the future of the midwifery profession, and the critical role thatmidwives play in supporting mothers and newborns, and in turn families, men, andcommunities. While ICM refers to women as the critical population that it serves andpartners with, the organisation also recognises and values other populations also
served by midwives (e.g. adolescent girls, LGBTQI and non-binary people, etc.). In
addition, ICM recognises and respects the varying gender identities that represent
the populations served by midwives and Member Associations across different
contexts and countries, and the gender identities and preferred pronouns of all ICM
partners.

ICM Values
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We strengthen and build the capacity of midwives and Midwives’
Associations so that midwives can better support women and provide quality
SRMNCAH care
We work locally, regionally and globally with our Midwives’ Association
members and on behalf of the midwives they represent
We work in partnership with others to advance the profession of midwifery
We take a rights-based approach
We promote and prioritise justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion
We use information and evidence as the basis for our decisions
We operate responsibly, with integrity and accountability

Rooted in a commitment to serving midwives and women, ICM champions
midwifery as a basic human right for all women, as evidenced, along with other key
tenets, in the ICM Bill of Rights and the Philosophy and Model of Midwifery Care. By
acknowledging and working to value diversity, examining institutional biases suchas racism, sexism, ageism, etc., and working to combat inequality in all its forms,
ICM also strives to model and prioritise justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI)in all work. This includes efforts to promote diverse leadership and focusing on
the various regions of ICM’s remit as well as equity and inclusion within ICM’s staff,
programmes, and across MAs. ICM will strive to advance justice and stand against
racism by fighting barriers to equitable, respectful, and culturally appropriate
midwifery care for all women and communities (See ICM’s Anti-Racism Statement).
These efforts will enhance outcomes and drive sustainable progress for midwives,
women, and communities, regardless of their ethnicity, race, origin, religion, or sexual
orientation/identity. These tenets are central to ICM’s strategic approach. Additional
ICM position statements also highlight the organisation’s beliefs and principles.
The strategic planning process – led by the ICM Board, with support from Global
Health Visions (GHV) – served to (1) reflect and align the diverse perspectives of
key ICM stakeholders (including, the ICM Board, staff, Member Associations, andYMLs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the World
Health Organization (WHO), the White Ribbon Alliance (WRA), the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation (BMGF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Laerdal
Global Health (LGH), Latter Day Saint Charities (LDSC), and other key partners), (2)define the broader landscape and value-added of ICM within that landscape, and(3) outline clear priorities that underpin the framework of a strategy that is bothvisionary and practical.

9III. Strategic Priorities
The overarching goal of the strategic plan over the next three years is to position
ICM as an expert in creating, advising, influencing, and enabling the profession of
midwifery globally. In support of that goal, the following three areas have been
identified as key strategic priorities for ICM for 2021-2023:
1.

Drive innovation and sustainability for the future of midwifery

2. Develop, strengthen, and support the rollout of a new professional framework
for midwifery
3. Foster a movement for midwifery, enabling and strengthening partnerships,
advocacy, and communications for midwifery, with women’s voices at the centre
As separate entities, these three priorities deliver on key areas of interest for
ICM’s growth, while as a collective, they serve to pave the way for a stronger, moresustainable, and impactful ICM. Cutting across all three of the strategic priorities is acommitment to foster and promote gender equality both within ICM and across the
midwifery profession.

Strategic Priority 1: Drive innovation and sustainability for the future of
midwifery2
The global health landscape is rapidly shifting, including a more holistic focus onuniversal health coverage and strengthening health systems, a greater recognitionof the importance of gender equality as central to advancing all health issues,
and a notable shift in efforts to drive decision-making and resources to low and/or middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has had and will continue
to have a profound impact on countries’ health systems and economic stability
as well as individuals’ lives. In light of this dynamic and ever-changing landscape,positioning ICM to be both innovative and flexible will ensure ongoing sustainability.
This priority is central to ensuring ICM’s continued role as a respected convenor,
connector, and catalyst for MAs and midwives nationally, regionally, and globally,
ensuring that the organisation is poised to broaden impact and to bolster support
for the next generation of midwives.

Key Objectives•

Ensure a sustainable ICM, including human, social, economic, and environmental
elements•

Utilise and promote more digital and mobile tools and knowledge management
resources to reach and support midwives and their associations (including atdifferent stages of their professional development, and in different country
contexts, digital access, and languages)•

Facilitate an agile ICM that is constantly learning and responding to the needs of
its members in new and improved ways•

Foster and build the next generation of midwives while leveraging the knowledge
and wisdom of older generations, fostering cross-generational learning

Our Approach

Midwives will stand with women,
and women will stand with midwives.

Ensuring a sustainable ICM is vital to the achievement of the other two strategic
priorities that follow. Therefore, ICM will balance its growth with the commitment
to ensuring that MAs, midwives, ICM Board members, and ICM staff are supported
and capacitated. This will also include developing and honing the skills of ICM’sstaff and Board and strengthening ICM’s governance and internal structures for thesustainability of the organisation into the future, ensuring that it is able to effectively
execute on the strategic priorities (human sustainability). Understanding that ICM’s
growth and the growth of the midwifery profession are mutually dependent is criticalto ensuring that the larger midwifery community plays an active role in shaping andsupporting ICM and vice versa. ICM will commit to utilising the feedback from MAs
and midwives, through membership surveys and programme evaluations, to push
for policies and actions that align with their needs and support their wellbeing andthat of their communities (social sustainability). ICM will also focus on ensuring its
financial security during the duration of the strategic plan and beyond, by diversifying
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Please see ICM’s definitions of midwives and midwifery.

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funding sources and securing longer-term funding for ICM’s core strategic activities(economic sustainability). Finally, as an organisation, being environmentally
responsible in both internal and external-facing efforts is critical to the health andwellbeing of our natural world and ensuring that the next generation of midwives isable to succeed in their given environments (environmental sustainability). ICM willprioritise environmental sustainability by limiting unnecessary travel and printed
materials, prioritising virtual meetings for its staff, members, and partners, andsourcing goods and services produced sustainably, whenever possible. ICM will
also raise awareness among MAs about effective ways to be more environmentally
sustainable in their respective contexts.
To drive innovation and learning and to continue to be an agile organisation, ICM
will assess and update its digital platforms for reaching and supporting MAs andmidwives, especially given the recent implications of COVID-19 and limitations on
travel. This includes prioritising an updated, more user-friendly website and effective
virtual platforms for information-sharing (e.g. Moodle, etc.) to share current evidence
and tools with MAs and those in the midwifery space, developing new technologies(e.g. mobile-friendly apps, videos, graphics that are transferrable across contexts,
including those with limited telecommunications and internet services, etc.), andenhancing translation availability and translated materials to reach diverse regions
and partners.
ICM will also commit to supporting, fostering, and building the next generation of
midwives to ensure this profession continues to grow and meet the needs of womenand newborns around the world. This will include enhancing and building upon the
Young Midwife Leaders (YMLs) project, and exploring other ways to support MAs
and midwives with tools and/or guidance around mentorship, leadership, andharnessing and utilising the knowledge of older generations of midwives.

Strategic Priority 2: Develop, strengthen, and support the rollout of a new
professional framework for midwifery
As a central component of ICM’s work, the professional framework for midwifery, atool developed by ICM and partners to support the development and strengtheningof midwifery services across all countries focusing on a quality midwifery workforce,is both highly recognised and utilised as an informative and guiding tool for the
profession. The framework includes a distinct philosophy and approach to care that
underpins all elements of ICM’s work. It supports midwives and other stakeholders in
implementing and advocating for the key components needed to comprehensively
support midwives around the world and it outlines the standards of practice, corecompetencies, and model of care for the profession that ensure that midwives canpractise both safely and effectively. Yet, the framework must evolve as new evidence
and research emerges, and as the global landscape shifts.
As an organisation rooted in connecting with and supporting midwives, ICM iswell-positioned to draw on the knowledge and experiences of midwives in thedevelopment of a robust, updated professional framework. The updated framework
will underscore the need to support and develop an enabling environment forautonomous midwives, while advancing gender equality, promoting JEDI principles,

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Strategic Priority 2: Develop, strengthen,and support the rollout of a new professionalframework for midwifery13rights-based approaches to care, and leadership, to ensure the profession remains
relevant, innovative, and ahead of the curve.

Key Objectives•

Promote midwifery as an autonomous profession with a distinct philosophy andapproach to care•

Facilitate an enabling environment for midwives•

Strengthen midwifery education, regulation, associations, leadership, and modelof care•Synthesise and drive research, evidence, and essential competencies for the
profession of midwifery

Our Approach
ICM is in a unique position to reassess the professional framework and update
it to reflect a more comprehensive view of the needs of midwives, ensuring they
are able to learn and practise effectively and to grow the profession. This includes
considering and integrating gender equality and the enabling environment – two
key pieces required for midwives to be able to lead and do their jobs well.
The current professional framework is rooted in the ICM essential competencies
for midwifery practice – driving research, and supporting education, regulation,
and associations. The updated framework will build on the current framework
components while expanding the core tenets to also include leadership, themidwifery philosophy, the enabling environment, and the midwife-led continuityof care model of practice. Through an updated framework, ICM will continue toprioritise awareness around the importance of recognising the midwifery profession
as autonomous and distinct from other health professions, including nursing.
Updating and rolling out a new professional framework will include drawing on thebest research and evidence and conducting consultations with key stakeholders,
including midwives globally. Given that evidence-based research is critical toforward momentum, ICM will support midwife-led research and will work to ensurethat research is both available and easily accessible to all MAs and midwives. The
framework will be promoted and shared across various geographies to align midwives
and other stakeholders around the key components that are needed to support andadvance the profession. It can also be used as an advocacy tool with stakeholders,
including governments, development partners, and civil society allies, to push for
midwives to be at decision-making tables and to foster the implementation of theframework in all settings.

Strategic Priority 3: Foster a movement for midwifery, enabling andstrengthening partnerships, advocacy, and communications for midwifery,with women’s voices at the centre
Reaching out, connecting, and involving others in recognising, supporting, and14

advancing the profession of midwifery is central to ICM’s mission. Movementbuilding will allow ICM to harness the power of MAs, midwives, and key stakeholders
across the globe to build the support network for midwives, create advocates across
new sectors, and strengthen the sustainability of the profession, its recognition
globally, and the policies and funding needed at global and national levels to secure
an enabling environment.
We know that many of the issues that are central to women’s rights movements arealso issues that impact midwives. Every day, midwives work to uphold the rightsof the women in their care. ICM will continue to stand with midwives and women,
supporting the relationships that expand the impact of midwives and drive progress
towards gender equality.

Key Objectives•

Leverage advocacy and communications to influence and inform policy-makers
and wider audiences on the impact of and need for midwives•

Utilise effective and equitable relationships to build and support the professionof midwifery and expand the influence of ICM•

Build up partnerships between women and midwives, from the individuallevel, to the community level, to the global level (women’s rights andempowerment, woman-centred, respectful care, and gender equality)•

Support partnerships between midwives (support for MAs, mentorship,strong regional support, twinning)•

Strengthen partnerships between midwives and other stakeholders, including
global and national policy-makers, other health professionals (obstetricians,
paediatricians, nurses), traditional caregivers, other health workers andassociations, and partners across sectors (SRHR, Women’s Rights, UHC, etc.)

Our Approach
ICM will focus on improving staffing and funding for advocacy and communications
efforts, which will be critical to ensuring ICM can build an impactful movement todrive awareness and policy change around the important role midwives play inensuring the health and wellbeing of women, newborns, and their communities. A
robust advocacy and communications strategy will focus specifically on establishingproactive and targeted goals, allowing for a cohesive and united voice for ICM and
its allies, better positioning the organisation, MAs, and midwives to push for neededchange and to combat opposition when present. As a cross-cutting tactic that supports
all of the other strategic priorities, ICM’s focus on advocacy and communications will
help to leverage and diversify partnerships and funding streams that will bolster
collective action and inform new audiences about the importance of midwives.
In an effort to build partnerships, ICM will identify key civil society and women’sorganisations both regionally and globally to advance common goals together with
ICM and its MAs. ICM will also create new opportunities for MAs and midwives
to support one another within and across regions, and through mentorship15

programmes. ICM will also engage other like-minded stakeholders across new
sectors to advance the movement for midwifery, including a focus on pushing forpolicy change and increased funding to the profession.

Cross-cutting: Promote gender equality by employing a gender lens andprioritisation across all elements of the strategic planAs gender equality impacts every element of the three priorities of ICM’s newly
developed strategic plan, understanding how pervasive inequalities affect the
profession of midwifery is vital to ensuring ICM’s remit is poised to work to addressthese issues. By utilising a gender lens (e.g., examining elements of work and theirimpact on women and gender equality), across all of the strategic priorities as well as
their key objectives, ICM will be better positioned to both promote gender equality
and to work to enact processes and approaches that will help to shape the lived
realities of midwives and the women they serve in a variety of geographies.

Acknowledgments
ICM would like to acknowledge the Board for its leadership and oversight in thedevelopment of the 2021-2023 ICM Strategic Plan. ICM would also like to thank its
staff, Member Associations, young midwife leaders (YMLs), the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the World Health Organization (WHO),
the White Ribbon Alliance (WRA), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), theUnited Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Laerdal Global Health (LGH), Latter Day
Saint Charities (LDSC), and other key partners for their critical inputs throughout
the strategic planning process. Finally, ICM would like to acknowledge Global Health
Visions (GHV) for their steadfast guidance and support in the development of thestrategy.

Strategic Priority 3: Foster a movement
for midwifery, enabling and strengthening
partnerships, advocacy, and communications for
midwifery, with women’s voices at the centre

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