Board Members

Franka Cadée is serving her second term as the President of the International Confederation of Midwives. Previously, she served on the ICM Board as treasurer (2002-2008) and on the ICM Council as a KNOV Delegate (2008 -2017). Franka is an expert on sexual and reproductive healthcare in general and midwifery in particular, with over 30 years of strategy and policy development, advocacy, leadership, research and project management experience. She is known to many for her PhD research into twinning, a cross-cultural reciprocal process to strengthening the agency of midwives. With her anthropological and midwifery background plus personal experience of living and working across a range of differently resourced countries, she is well aware of the realities of the field and a strong proponent of a human rights based approach to healthcare. Currently she is a member of the Executive Board of the Partnership for Maternal and Newborn Health (PMNCH) representing the Health Care Professional Associations, a Board member of the ICM WithWomen charity, and a member of the High-Level Commission on the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 Follow-up as well as a consultant on international collaboration to the Royal Dutch Association of Midwives (KNOV).   

Registered Midwife, BSc, MSc Ed. 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.  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 elected Secretary General of the Association in 2015, and in 2018, she was elected as Vice President of the new Board. She became an ICM Board Member representing Central and South America in 2014, and in the same year, she trained to be a Master Trainer CBE TOT. In 2017 she was reelected as an ICM Board Member for her second term. Through ICM, Sandra has devoted herself to strengthen the organisation’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 in 2020 She became ICM’s Vice President and a WGH Board Member.  

Victor has been a Midwife for 31 years, and is recognized and respected among peers in all areas of professional and political intervention and human resources management. Over the course of his career, he has held many leadership and Board positions, including President of APEO; President of the General Assembly; President of MCEESMO-OE (regulatory body); Member of EMA, for Portugal; Member of the ICM Board representing the Southern Europe Region (2005 and 2011) and member of ICM’s Permanent Committee for Regulation. 

Vitor has a master's degree in organizational behavior and is the author of several articles and scientific publications. He is a promoter of normal birth and alternative methodologies to labor. In his home country of Portugal, he is a leader of the introduction of water in labor and birth in water. Vitor has dedicated his professional life to defending the human rights of women throughout their sexual and reproductive health cycles.  He is married to Elisabete Santos, a midwife herself, and has four children, Frederico, Barbara, Cristiana and Beatriz, and three grandchildren, Simão, Beatriz and Violeta. 

Ann Kinnear, a midwife of over 34 years, has an enduring passion for woman-centered midwifery care. She is the Business Manager of CARE Midwifery, a private midwifery practice in Australia, Midwifery Advisor for the Burnet Institute, Melbourne Australia, Director of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council, Director of the Rhodanthe Lipsett Indigenous Midwifery Trust and was the CEO of the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) for eight years. Ann has extensive experience in governance, regulation, management, policy and leadership across a career spanning several decades notably, Director of Midwifery, Greenwich NHS Trust London, Principal Advisor Maternity Services NSW Health and CEO of ACM.  

Mme Dicko Fatoumouta holds multiple master's degrees including one in pedagogy from the Cheaichk Anta DIOP University in Dakar. She is a member of several national and international committees in the field of maternal and child health, and has held a number of senior positions within this sector, including Deputy Director General of the National Institute for Training in Health Sciences, and Deputy Director of the Human Resources for Health Strengthening Project through IntraHealth. Mme Dicko is the former president of the Association of Midwives of Mali and of the Federation of Midwives Associations of Francophone Africa. She currently works at the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) providing training to nurses and midwives in the ECOWAS region.

Hilma Shikwambi is a passionate midwife from Windhoek, Namibia. She holds a Master’s Degree of Science in Nursing and a Postgraduate Diploma in Maternal and Child Health. She is  currently a Doctoral student focusing on Maternal and Child Health. Hilma has more than 15 years of clinical, education and technical expertise as a midwife. She also has expertise as a public health leader and senior technical advisor in designing, implementing and monitoring programmes related to maternal and child health, health system strengthening, primary health care, sexual and reproductive health and education in low and middle income countries. As an emergency obstetric and newborn Care master trainer and course director, Hilma has  a strong professional local and international network. Within Namibia, she has built strong relationships with various partners including Government, UN agencies, development partners, academia, civil society organisations and communities. Hilma is also a lecturer and Head of the Department of Nursing and Midwifery at the International University of Management (IUM) in Namibia, and is the founder and chairperson of the Independent Midwives Association of Namibia (IMANA) since its establishment in 2014. Beyond her full-time job as a midwife educator, Hilma is  a member of the Nursing council of Namibia and serves in a Ministerial appointed committee that audits maternal and newborn death, stillbirths and maternal near misses at the national level. Hilma is a soccer fan and a mother of three teenage sons.

María Florencia Francisconi is an Argentine midwife, registered at the College of Midwives of the Province of Buenos Aires. She graduated from a four-year direct entry career, and then completed a three-year residency at a maternal and child hospital in the province of Buenos Aires. María worked as a midwife activity manager and instructor of obstetric emergency courses for an NGO. Recently, she finished a Master’s in Public Health in Spain, and is currently the President of the Committee for the Promotion of Research and Leadership at her local midwifery college. 

Dr. Pandora Hardtman has more than 20 years of midwifery experience working in the USA, Caribbean, South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. She obtained a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (and induction into Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society of Nursing) from John Hopkins University. Pandora also holds a MSc in Nursing from the University of California Los Angeles, and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from University of Alabama at Birmingham, focused on competencies for midwifery practice. She currently works as a Midwifery Capacity Building Specialist focused on low-resource and conflict/fragile settings, and as a supplemental clinical staf in diverse metropolitan setting.  In the past, she has worked closely with Ministries of Health and midwifery associations in forming strategic directions,  and developing regulatory processes alongside providing clinical and programmatic assistance for the development and implementation of country-level maternal health programs.  She is particularly passionate about legislative policy and advocacy work in midwifery and is known for encouraging midwives to  "push for change past the perineum." 

Dr. Roa Altaweli is a Consultant Midwife from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She is currently working as the Director of the Midwifery Department at the Ministry of Health. Roa is a founding board member and the chairperson of the Saudi midwifery group (SMG). Roa holds a BSc in Nursing from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. After obtaining a Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery from Bahrain, she was appointed as a midwife at the National Guard Hospital in Jeddah and then a teaching assistant at Dar Al Hekma University in Jeddah. Roa received additional academic credentials by achieving a Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Practice of Midwifery from Kings College London and MSc and PhD in Midwifery from City University London. She was the first midwife from Saudi Arabia to obtain a PhD in Midwifery. When she returned to Saudi Arabia, she worked as a part-time Assistant Professor at King Abdulaziz University Jeddah at the Maternity and Child Nursing Department and then joined Ministry of Health (MoH) East Jeddah Hospital as the Clinical Nursing Director for the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department. She participated in the opening of the Midwife Clinic in East Jeddah Hospital. 

Trude has 34 years of experience working across all aspects of midwifery and has a demonstrated history of working in hospital & health care sectors. She is particularly skilled in research, nursing, clinical research, maternal and child health. Trude has extensive project management experience in low income countries, such as Bangladesh and Afghanistan. She holds degrees from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Bergen (UiB). 

Dr. Victoria Vivilaki is Associate Professor at the Midwifery School of Athens, University of West Attica. She holds a BSc in Midwifery from the Midwifery School of Athens (4 years direct entry). After obtaining a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Midwifery from Salford University, she received an MPH and PhD in Public Health from the Medical School of University of Crete. Steaming from her love and passion for the women’s health and the evidence-based community midwifery practice, Victoria has significant experience in implementing education and research initiatives within community midwifery care and women’s health. She is actively involved in the development of Primary Care and midwifery at the national and European levels and leads a productive research group of midwives which is focused on approaches to women’s health care, and considerations of social and psychological factors affecting women’s health. Victoria has participated in multiple large-scale collaborative research programs within Greece and the European Union. She and her research team at the University of West Attica were involved in EUropean Refugees – HUman Movement and Advisory Network, Tobacco cessation guidelines during pregnancy and postpartum period and the Operational Refugee and Migrant Maternal Approach. Victoria is Editor in Chief of the European Journal of Midwifery and peer reviewer in several international midwifery journals. Victoria is the elected President of the Board of Hellenic Midwives Association, based in Athens, Greece. She has written four midwifery books in Greek and co-authored many others.