After Lisbon- birthing a new association.

Inaugural meeting of ICMC, June 2026

In 2018 a group of midwifery center advocates, owners, researchers and midwives met to discuss how to strengthen and promote midwifery centres. Since then we have met globally at every ICM. This year, in 2026 at ICM in Lisbon, we made a bold step in support of midwifery centres- we committed ourselves to a global organization to promote, advocate and collectively speak for midwifery centres!

The name- International Confederation of Midwifery Centres or ICMC- is a placeholder while we work out governance and global representation of this new association. Just like a midwifery centre is a midwives’ place of practice- unique from a hospital- reflecting the midwifery model of care, with shared power and decision making, humanizing birth for women and midwives- we aim for the ICMC to be different too.

We are committed to global representation and leadership with feedback loops to membership- currently via this newsletter/blog and WhatsApp- to keep all informed. We welcome your thoughts, needs, requests and expectations to be fully represented. Please message us on WhatsApp, by email (info@midwiferycentres.org), or comment below.

A group of you committed to volunteering monthly as we work out governance and goals. To enable equitable representation, we may reach out to a few more of you. Thank you to everyone who understands the value and importance of midwifery centres for women and midwives. Let’s go change the world!

Midwifery Centre owners and advocates at ICM June, 2026- Lisbon