Guide
Twinning for Midwives
Association, Mentoring
ICM
Last Edited 18 March 2025 18:34 CET
What is Twinning?
Twinning is a cross-cultural, reciprocal process in which two groups collaborate to achieve shared goals. Recognised as an effective method for enhancing the quality of care provided by midwives, twinning strengthens leadership capacity and empowers midwives to drive change within health systems. It requires equal bilateral investment and fosters intercultural exchange and communication between partners, whether between midwives’ associations from different countries, within the same country, between regional groups, or even between two individual midwives.
How to Use this Guide?
This guide is divided into two main sections:
- Part 1 covers the theory behind twinning, explaining what it is, why it is impactful, how to start a twinning project, how to maintain momentum, and the key steps involved. It includes real-life experiences from midwives and midwives’ associations who share what twinning has meant to them, why they embarked on it, and how they approached it—offering inspiration and practical insights.
- Part 2 contains the Twinning Kit, which provides all the necessary logistical documents to help you launch a twinning project. These examples are designed to be adapted to your specific context, with tables filled in as guides rather than fixed templates, allowing you to personalise the content as needed.