Professional Framework for Midwifery – Implementation Guide

Advocacy, Association, Education, Enabling Environment, Essential Competencies, Gender Equality, Leadership, Model of Care, Philosophy, Regulation, Research

ICM

Last Edited 10 June 2025 10:50 CEST

Download Resource

The Professional Framework for Midwifery outlines the key elements needed to build and sustain a strong midwifery profession and improve the quality and equity of sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health (SRMNAH) care.

This Implementation Guide is designed for midwives, policymakers, educators, health system leaders, and others involved in strengthening midwifery services. It provides a step-by-step approach to applying the Framework, along with practical examples and reflection points. The guide supports users in understanding how to engage with the Framework and advocate for its implementation within their own health systems.

Using the Implementation Guide

The Implementation Guide is structured in three sections:

Section 1 explains the foundations of the Framework—why the ICM Definition of a Midwife, Midwifery Philosophy and Model of Care, and Essential Competencies are central.
Section 2 explores the remaining elements of the Framework, highlighting their interdependence and role in shaping a strong midwifery profession.
Section 3 provides a practical approach to implementing the Framework, with country examples that show how it can be applied in different contexts.

Using this guide can help improve midwifery care and create stronger systems to support midwives. With stakeholder engagement and clear measures of progress, the Framework can drive lasting change for midwives, women, and newborns around the world.

Related Resources

Core Document

Professional Framework for Midwifery

Every profession needs a structure to support it, strengthen it and guide its development, that includes all the elements required before an occupation can be considered a profession.

A midwife checks a pregnant woman's blood pressure during a prenatal appointment at The Midwives Collective in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Core Document

International Definition and Scope of Practice of the Midwife

This document provides an internationally recognised definition and scope of practice of a midwife.

Core Document

Philosophy and Model of Midwifery Care

This document provides a universal, description of the philosophy and model of midwifery care, without compromising local or regional characteristics of midwifery care.

Core Document

Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice

The essential competences for the practice of midwifery describe the minimum set of knowledge, skills and professional behaviours required by an individual to use the title of midwife as defined by the ICM.

Core Document, Standards

Global Standards for Midwifery Education

The ICM Standards for Midwifery Education are an essential pillar of ICM’s efforts to strengthen midwifery worldwide by promoting high quality education programmes that prepare midwives who meet the ICM definition of a midwife.

Core Document, Standards

Global Standards for Midwifery Regulation

The goal of these standards is to promote regulatory mechanisms that protect the public by ensuring that safe and competent midwives provide high standards of midwifery care.