Women Deliver

Women Deliver is a global advocacy organization focused on improving maternal health, which works to generate political commitment and financial investment to fulfill the related Millennium Development Goal 5. The organization is based in New York, and its work covers a number of areas including access to a healthy diet, clean water and sanitation, health services, and appropriate education during pregnancy and childbirth. It is targeted towards reducing maternal mortality and increasing access to reproductive health.[1]

History

Women Deliver was founded by Jill Sheffield in 2007, and launched at the Women Deliver conference in London in October 2007.

On June 7 to June 9, 2010, Women Deliver hosted a second global conference in Washington, D.C., drawing nearly 3,500 attendees from 146 countries.[2]

Women Deliver's third global conference, Women Deliver 2013, was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from May 28-30, 2013, with over 4,500 participants from 149 countries.

The fourth Women Deliver's global conference was held in Copenhagen from 16-19 May 2016, following the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The conference's focus was on implementing the SDGs as they relate to girls and women, with a specific emphasis on health - in particular maternal, sexual, and reproductive health and rights - and the inter-connections with gender equality, education, environment, and economic empowerment.[3]

The 2019 conference was held in Vancouver, Canada on 2-6 June.[4] The sixth conference was held on 17-20 July 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda.[5]

Controversy

In 2020 the organization issued a public apology after some staff spoke out about a culture of racism;[6] they also launched an internal investigation to look at claims of a 'white savior complex', 'white faux feminism' and toxic cliquish behavior. The investigation was completed four months later and noted that no one single person was responsible for the "challenging" environment;[7] one staff member called this a 'slap in the face' to junior and mid-level staff. The then-president Katja Iversen resigned and the group issued a commitment to change the working environment.[8]

Publications

References
  1. "United Nations Millennium Development Goals". www.un.org.
  2. Weissman, Michaele (June 16, 2010). "It's Time To Pay Attention To Global Women's Health Care". Forbes.
  3. "Women Deliver » Conferences". Women Deliver. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018.
  4. "Women Deliver Conference 2019". Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  5. Gender And Adolescence Global Evidence website, Women Deliver Conference 2023: What We’ve Learned And What We’re Doing About It, article by Silvia Guglielmi, dated September 4th 2023
  6. Reuters website, Top women's rights group probes claims of racism by staff, article by Sonia Elks, dated June 18, 2020
  7. Guardian Newspaper website, article by Liz Ford, dated October 30, 2023
  8. Women Deliver website, Commitment to Anti-Racism, updated May 31, 2022
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