ICM is aware that its members are at different levels of development. Some are just starting with no definite organisational structure, while others are well developed organisations with a clear structure. Some have less than a hundred members. Others have thousands in membership. The associations do not only differ in size, but also in strength.
Midwives in a given country need the collective force of their profession gathered in a strong association to reach both their individual and collective goals. Thus, similarly, strengthening individual member associations enhances the ability of midwives worldwide to achieve the goal of improving the health of women and children. The ICM therefore uses very specific tools to develop, support and strengthen midwives’ associations in all countries.
The following tools for Strengthening Midwives Associations are available:
- Twinning: Twinning is a mutually beneficial exchange between two member midwives associations. It is a formal and substantive collaboration between two organisations.
- Capacity Assessment: Organisational capacity assessment is the process by which the efficiency and effectiveness of the different components of an organisation are measured to determine the level of development of the organisation.
- Positioning and Profiling Midwifery - P2M is a three day highly participatory event where the midwives are guided through the process of establishing their identity and the status quo, establishing where they want to go (vision), what they should set out to do (mission), how they want to get there (strategy) and with whose and what support (resource mobilisation). Some stakeholders will be involved throughout and policy makers and decision makers will be invited to the last day.
- Leadership development materials: The ICM has materials which have been tried and tested in leadership development. For those associations which require strengthening in leadership, these materials are already available for adaptation to the context of the association.