Sponsor a Midwife!

The Sponsor a Midwife Programme (SAM) was initiated in 1993 by the Midwives Association of British Columbia. It is geared to bringing midwives from developing countries to ICM activities such as the meeting of the International Council, the Pre-Congress Workshop, the Congress and the Mid-Triennium meetings.

Its purpose is the support of individual midwives in resource poor countries where maternal mortality and morbidity rates are highest, by education/upgrading of skills of midwives and/or their involvement in midwifery activities that promote Safe Motherhood.

These midwives have to fill a set of criteria: have leadership potential, be able to transform information into action, demonstrate commitment to the aims of the Confederation and, in the case of sponsorship to a Congress, they must be presenting a paper. If appropriate or possible, midwives from member associations will be enabled to attend ICM Council meetings at the same time

The intent is that nominees for sponsorship from the Sponsor a Midwife Programme will be midwives from developing areas of the world with priority being given to those from places where greatest benefit would be gained from addressing the particular issues being considered. They need not be member of an ICM member association. In principle, no midwife should receive support from the fund to attend more than one consecutive ICM Congress or Workshop.

The sponsorship will cover the following costs:

• Travel from home to venue and back at economy rates.
• Accommodation (shared) and meals for the required length of stay.
• Other expenses such as congress registration fee, visa and inoculations.

Funds for the Sponsor a Midwife Programme are raised in the following ways:

• by ICM Member Associations raising money on the International Day of the Midwife (generally, members donate 50% of what they raise to the SAM Programme) or at other occasions
• by ICM Board and staff in conjunction with international partners

Several smaller amounts of money will be combined through the programme in order to provide full sponsorship to a midwife. This will make it possible for all member associations and even individual midwives or small groups of midwives to participate in sponsoring their colleagues. At Congress, a social event will be organised for sponsored midwives and their sponsors to meet and evaluate the programme.

Midwives can be nominated by ICM Member Associations, through the headquarters network or by ICM collaborative partners. Final decisions on those awarded a sponsorship are made by the Board of Management.

Call to action:

All member associations are requested to tell their members that sponsorship requests can now be submitted,  and to raise funds for the programme, if  possible.

Please send your application with copy of abstract and CV to ICM headquarters, or contact headquarters if you want to provide funds.