1.
Maternal health does not improve through clinical data alone. It improves when communities, providers, and institutions learn together, act on what they hear, and change the systems that shape care.

The International MotherBaby Childbirth Organization works at that intersection. We help build community-based knowledge systems, strengthen respectful and equitable maternity care, and address the legal and policy barriers that limit access to midwifery, birth center care, and dignity in hospital settings.

The Three Core Pillars of IMBCO

Picture
© Commonsense Childbirth
Community-based ​Knowledge
​​
​We help create practical feedback and learning structures that connect families, communities, providers, and facilities. This makes it possible to identify gaps in care earlier, understand lived experience more deeply, and shape solutions that reflect real needs.
Better Care, Stronger Accountability

​​We support approaches to maternity care that center dignity, informed choice, mother-baby-centered care, and freedom from discrimination. Our work strengthens the relationships and accountability systems that help better care take root.
Policy and Systems ​Change

​​​​We examine the legal, regulatory, and institutional barriers that stand in the way of midwifery models of care, birth center care, and respectful care in hospitals. We then help translate that understanding into tools that communities and partners can use to advocate for change.

Who we are

IMBCO is a maternal health organization advancing community-informed, respectful, and equitable systems of care. For nearly two decades, we have helped develop approaches that bring communities and care facilities into closer dialogue so that maternal health systems can respond more effectively to lived experience, local realities, and structural inequity.

What makes IMBCO different

IMBCO does not see communities as passive recipients of care. We see them as essential partners in understanding what care is needed, where systems are falling short, and what must change.
​
That perspective has shaped our work from the beginning. We have long advanced models that connect patients, families, providers, facilities, and community stakeholders through shared learning, accountability, and action. This approach helps improve care in the present while also building a broader constituency of people prepared to champion maternal health in their communities over time.
Why this matters
​In 2023, an estimated 260,000 women died from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes—most from preventable complications. Quality of care is the difference between survival and thriving.

What we do

Build community-based knowledge systems

We help create the conditions for continuous learning between communities and maternity care providers. Through structured feedback, dialogue, and shared reflection, we support systems that can better understand care gaps, inequities, and opportunities for improvement.
​
This is not only about collecting information. It is about creating stronger relationships of accountability and building the knowledge base communities need to shape better maternal health systems.

Strengthen respectful maternity care

We support models of care that treat dignity, informed choice, and respectful treatment as central to quality. Our work spans birth centers, community-based maternity care, and hospital settings, always with the goal of making care more humane, more responsive, and more equitable.

Advance policy and legal change

Care is shaped not only by what happens inside facilities, but also by the laws, regulations, payment structures, and professional hierarchies that shape what kinds of care are possible.
​
IMBCO is committed to understanding and addressing the policy and legal obstacles that limit access to midwifery models of care, birth center care, and respectful maternity care in hospitals. We help identify those barriers and support advocacy to change them.

Equip communities and partners for advocacy

We turn what communities know into practical tools for action. By combining lived experience, systems analysis, and policy understanding, we help partners and communities advocate for reforms that are grounded, strategic, and sustainable.
Picture
© Mercy in Action Philippines

Why this matters

Maternal health systems often produce large amounts of data while still missing what matters most to people receiving care: whether they were respected, whether they were heard, whether discrimination shaped their experience, and whether the system earned their trust.

When those realities are ignored, care suffers and inequities deepen.

​IMBCO works to close that gap. We help ensure that maternal health systems are informed not only by clinical outcomes, but also by lived experience, community knowledge, and the legal and policy conditions that determine whether respectful care is truly possible.

Why IMBCO

IMBCO brings nearly 20 years of experience working with birth centers, small facilities, and maternal health partners around the world. We have helped advance rights-based, community-centered approaches to childbirth that strengthen accountability, improve respectful care, and support long-term systems change.

Our strength lies in connecting three things that are too often separated:
  • what communities know,
  • what facilities need to improve care,
  • and what systems must change for better care to last.
    ​
That combination makes IMBCO a distinctive partner for donors, advocates, facilities, and communities seeking meaningful maternal health reform.

What your support makes possible

Supporting IMBCO means investing in maternal health change that is practical, community-grounded, and built to last.
Your support helps:
  • bring community voices into the systems that shape care,
  • strengthen feedback and accountability between facilities and the communities they serve,
  • identify legal and policy barriers to respectful and midwifery-led care,
  • equip local leaders and partners with tools to advocate for change,
  • and build models that can be adapted, shared, and sustained over time.

IMBCO strengthens maternal health by building community-based knowledge systems, advancing respectful and equitable care, and addressing the policy barriers that stand in the way of lasting change. 

Our Global Story (From 10 Steps to 12)

IMBCO began as a community-driven effort to make childbirth not only safer, but more respectful—by helping facilities put evidence and dignity into everyday practice. In 2008, IMBCO launched the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI): 10 Steps that created a shared, practical roadmap for MotherBaby-centered maternity care, and—just as importantly—a connected learning community where sites could exchange tools, challenges, and solutions.

​Through this model, IMBCO supported implementation and learning across 9 facilities in 3 world regions, and __ MotherBaby Networks of providers and facilities demonstrating how respectful maternity care can be advanced in very different contexts.

In 2018, IMBCO joined efforts with FIGO to strengthen and unify this work, evolving FIGO's Mother-Baby Friendly Birthing Facilities Initiative with the IMBCI into the International Childbirth Initiative (ICI): 12 Steps—now advancing in 28 countries across 6 regions worldwide.
International Childbirth Initiative Site Locations

IMBCI Global Reach and Implementation

Representatives from 163 countries across all 4 regions participated in the international survey, which showed 85%-95% agreement with the 10 Steps.

​This strong consensus formed the foundation for developing the International MotherBaby Childbirth Initiative (IMBCI), which launched on International Women’s Day in March 2008. The IMBCI  contributed to achieving at least five of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals targeted for 2015.
Demonstration/Pilot IMBCI Sites - formal partnerships
​​IMBCO partnered with selected facilities meeting established criteria to pilot the 10 Steps, collect data on impact and effectiveness, document maternity care improvements, and raise awareness of optimal MotherBaby maternity care.
MotherBaby Neworks (MBnets) - self-initiated adopters
MBnets are facilities, organizations, professionals, and grassroots groups worldwide using the IMBCI Steps in their own context and sharing learnings through the network.
​
These sites contacted IMBCO, completed the online questionnaire, and confirmed their commitment to implementing the 10 Steps. They receive IMBCO resources and opportunities to share victories/challenges via the IMBCO website.

Is your facility or network interested in adopting ICI?
We welcome partnerships with facilities, professional associations, ministries of health, and implementers.