Twin to Win
In 2022 ICM launched its first Twin to Win pilot project as part of the Strengthening Midwifery Services Project. A two-year initiative where member associations (MAs) from similar contexts are matched and supported to develop and deliver joint and individual projects.
Twinning is a cross-cultural, reciprocal process where two groups of people work together to achieve a joint goal. Over the past decade, several ICM MAs have twinned to share best practices and work collaboratively on shared organisational objectives aimed at strengthening midwifery within their countries.
With strong institutional knowledge and feedback from our MAs, and their interest in establishing twinning projects, ICM launched a pilot Twin to Win project and welcomed its first twins. Over the following two years, the twins worked together to create measurable and achievable projects with the ultimate goal of strengthening their associations.
Creating an environment for MAs to grow and learn from each other in a reciprocal way is a core objective of the Twin to Win project.
For this reason, we matched MAs from similar social and economic contexts to establish non-hierarchal, mutually beneficial relationships between sets of twins.
The project was also premised on self-direction and feminist models of collaboration and communication. This means that each set of twins determined the pace of their project in consideration of their already busy professional and personal schedules. By making space for the twins to build trust and form relationships with each other and establish realistic project timelines and deliverables, we achieved impactful project outcomes and long-lasting relationships between MAs.
Twins in this Project
Burundi and Uganda
Mali and Senegal
Guatemala and Costa Rica
A Do-It-Yourself Guide
Building on the success of the Twin to Win pilot, ICM created a hands-on manual to help Midwives’ Associations design and deliver their own twinning projects — from idea to impact.
