Board Members

Registered Midwife, BSc, MSc Ed. and Master Trainer CBE TOT. Sandra Oyarzo Torres is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile.  Since taking this position in 1998, she has taught across the five-year degree curriculum of the Midwifery School.  She has a master's degree in Health Science Education, and currently teaches in the Department of Education in Health Sciences to students seeking post graduate degrees, from 2022 She has been appointed as the newly Faculty of Medicine. University of Chile Director of Students Affairs.  Sandra is also a coordinator and professor in the Multidisciplinary Teams Training Program, and since 2007, has been a member of the Chilean Midwives Association, working as part of the Scientific Committee.  She was served in different positions at the Chilean Midwives Association as Secretary General of the Association, Vice President and President. She has served as an ICM Board Member representing Central and South America two terms 2014 - 2020, and in the Vice President role 2020 – 2023. Through ICM, Sandra has devoted herself to strengthen the organization’s three pillars: Education, Association and Regulation in the Americas. In 2019, She was elected as one of the seven Heroins of Heath by WGH/WHO and co-founded the first WGH chapter in LA and in 2019. During 2020 She became a WGH Board Member advocating for strengthen the leadership of midwives and women at decision level in health care.   

Andrew Otiko is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a member of the ICAEW. He has a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) degree in Accounting & Finance, a Master of Science degree in Analysis, Design & Management of Information Systems, which he obtained at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Additionally, he is certificated from the London School of Business and Finance in Advanced Financial Modelling. 

Andrew is a senior executive officer from the UK with over 20 years experience in the banking and financial technology industries. He currently serves as the CEO of a leading African provider of digital transformation and mobile payment solutions. He is adept at corporate strategy, performance optimisation, equity investments, and change management. He is also skilled in building strategic partnerships and driving necessary change to increase profitability.  

Andrew holds a number of company directorship positions globally including charities. He is passionate about education and financial inclusion with a keen interest on how technology impacts payments. He also enjoys playing chess and other strategy board games. 

Alison Eddy is serving her first term as the ICM Western Pacific region representative. Alison is currently the Chief Executive of the New Zealand College of Midwives.   

Alison has broad based midwifery practice experience, from community based case-loading midwifery led continuity of care settings to tertiary hospital care. She holds a Masters of Public Health from Otago University and also has experience in policy and contract management roles within the Ministry of Health.    

Alison’s work has included significant advocacy within her own country for midwives to achieve fair and reasonable pay and sustainable working conditions. She has served on numerous committees and in governance roles and has significant experience in developing and leading programmes which support the ongoing development of the midwifery profession. She has an interest in advancing the health system settings and policies which are needed for the midwifery profession to thrive. 

Laxmi Tamang is an initiator and lead co-founder of the Midwifery Society of Nepal, a professional association established in 2010, as well as a nurse-led stand-alone birthing center established in 2006. She served as the immediate past president of the Midwifery Society of Nepal. With over 25 years of experience in sexual and reproductive health and rights, she has worked in various settings, including clinical, community, and academic environments. 

During her tenure as a board member of the Nepal Nursing Council from 2018 to 2021, she played a crucial role in developing the Competency Guideline for the National Licensure Examination for Midwives (NLEM). Laxmi holds a Bachelor's degree in Nursing from Tribhuvan University, a Master of Public Health from the University of New South Wales in Australia, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine from the University of Sydney, focusing on the influence of gender power relations on sexual and reproductive health among Nepalese youth. 

In 1996, while working with the Women Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC), Laxmi was responsible for rehabilitating survivors of sex trafficking brought from Mumbai, India. She observed that around 80% of the trafficked girls belonged to her own indigenous community, the marginalized Tamang group, which faced systematic discrimination and marginalization due to their different socio-cultural practices. This experience ignited her passion for women's health and empowerment, leading her to engage passionately in sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

Laxmi has served as a board member of WOREC from 2017 to 2019 and is involved with women-led organizations such as the Beyond Beijing Committee Nepal and the Safe Motherhood Network Federation. Additionally, she is a co-founding board member of the Community Leadership Nepal Foundation, where she supports socio-economic empowerment initiatives for girls and women in historically marginalized rural and remote areas affected by trafficking. Laxmi's particular passion lies in midwifery, as she believes it empowers women from the moment of conception to the end of life. Her work with rural and remote Nepalese women facing suppression and oppression has inspired her to contribute to the field of midwifery and empower women from the very beginning of their journey. 

Laxmi firmly believes that midwifery is the only healthcare profession that truly empowers women from the earliest stages of their lives. 

Olive Tengera has more than 18 years of midwifery experience in teaching hospitals and universities. She is currently a lecturer and the head of the Midwifery department at the University of Rwanda. She is a Ph.D. student focusing on antenatal care and has a master’s in Midwifery and Women’s Health. Her research interest is midwifery education, maternal, newborn, and child health, and Sexual Reproductive, Adolescent Health, and rights.   

Olive has a strong local and international network, she collaborates with several partners in midwifery education, and research including different grants with Belgian universities such as University College Leuven Limburg (UCLL), Artevelde University College of Ghent (AUCG), and the University of Michigan through the Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT). Apart from being an active member of the Rwanda Association of Midwives, Olive is also a member of the National Council of Nursing and Midwifery of Rwanda and serves as an appointed committee member of the licensing examination committee.  

Samara Ferrara Belart is a professional Homebirth Midwife from Mexico with a Bachelor in Reproductive Health and Midwifery from Florencia Nightingale, Mexico. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the Texas A&M University, USA.  

Samara is a certified Blissborn Hipnosis Childbirth Educator who also teaches Sexual Education classes.  

She was a YML (ICM) in Denmark and participated in the 18-month project (Abu Dhabi and Toronto) to strengthen midwifery in México.  

Samara was sponsored by J&J to assist the Aspen Health Ideas Festival and was a panelist in Washington DC for the WHO Midwives Voices and a speaker at the Paraguay ICM Regional Conference. She was Treasurer of the Mexican Midwifery Association and currently a Member of the Professional Midwifery Association.  

Samara collaborated with the Population Council for a mapping study in midwifery services in the private care in Mexico. She assisted midwifery conferences in Germany, Indonesia, Canada, Denmark, México and Paraguay.  

Samara is a mother of 3 amazing home-born human beings who is passionate about herbal medicine, body-mind connection, nature and biology. 

Farida Shah has more than 20 years of experience in public health and the development of midwifery programs in South Asia, South and the Horn of Africa (Midwifery education policies, curricula, educational standards, and midwifery workforce planning). She obtained a Diploma in Midwifery, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (and induction into Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society of Nursing) from Aga Khan University. Farida also holds a Master's Degree in Public Health. Her expertise includes midwifery development of education policies, strategies, training curricula, quality assurance standards, assessment guidelines, and implementation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lesotho South Africa, and Somalia. She completed a consultancy with the World Health Organization in the Horn of Africa as a consultant for Reproductive maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH) for a year.  

She currently works as a Head of Community Health & Donor Funded Programs with Aga Khan Health Services. She believes in lifelong learning and always challenged herself and went out of her confront zone to work for the improvement of the midwifery profession and women's and children's Health.  

Lia Brigante is a midwife with over a decade of experience, she has been working in a series of roles including clinical leadership, research, policy and advisory. Lia joined the Royal College of Midwives, one of the largest midwifery associations, in 2017, contributing to improvement of maternity policy and midwifery practice across the UK and internationally, closely working with the European Midwifery Association (EMA) and representing ICM on WHO Guidance Development Groups. Lia is a member of the WHO STAGE Midwifery working group supporting the global transition to midwifery models of care. In her development role as Consultant Midwife in Public Health at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London (UK), Lia led the Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) maternity portfolio including an innovative model of community-based care integrated with early years services. Lia has conducted research on midwife-led settings provision, the role of consultant midwives and ‘higher risk’ women’s experiences of midwifery continuity of care, as co-investigator of the POPPIE trial at Kings’ College London as part of her MSc in Implementation Science. Lia is a visiting research fellow at King’s College London and is a visiting lecturer for MSc programmes in global and public health at King’s College London and City University of London.