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Title Twin2twin - Empowering Midwives and their Association
Full text http://rudar.ruc.dk/handle/1800/29171
Date 2016
Author(s) Fleming, Emma
Contributor(s) Hood, Johanna
Abstract In this thesis a partnership between the Dutch Midwives' Association (KNOV) and the Sierra Leonean Midwives Association (SLMA), called twin2twin is investigated. The partnership aimed at creating better conditions for midwives through strengthening the professional midwifery organization. Through individual and organizational empowerment inspired by Narayan(2005) and Zimmerman (1995), the idea was to have 25 pairs of midwives working together and sharing expertise and knowledge. Through joint experiences the participating midwives were to become empowered, and the empowerment of members would reflect back on the association (Cadée et al. 2013, 1145'46). There are many different views on empowerment. In this thesis empowerment is defined as a transformative process which both enlarge the boundaries of action for individuals or groups, and also extends the horizons of possibility, of what people imagine they are able to be and do. (Cornwall and Edwards 2010, 3) The qualitative data in the thesis come from fieldwork conducted in Sierra Leone and Netherlands, and are analyzed according to a theoretical framework developed by Andersen (Andersen 2005a) to research projects working with empowerment. The findings in the thesis are that through the twin2twin project (t2t) the participants became actively involved in the process of the project, thereby securing ownership over the project, which led to high levels of individual empowerment. Participants became empowered by increased advocacy skills and awareness of the professions importance. Another finding in the thesis is that a higher social esteem of the profession was achieved through t2t. To create an enabling environment for midwives, t2t wanted to secure stronger representation of midwives through their professional association SLMA. SLMA was secured representation through a combination of two simultaneous projects. A capacity-building project aimed at reestablishing the midwives' association in Sierra Leone and the t2t. The two projects are found to have intertwined and mutually supported each other. The actual influence of SLMA in creating an enabling environment for midwives, is discussed in the thesis. It is found that much remaines to be done to secure power in the political sphere in order to gain influence also in the economic sphere. John Andersen's framework was expanded, and the economic sphere was analyzed. It was found that midwives working conditions had deteriorated since t2t began. It was also found that SLMA needed more empowerment in the political dimension in order to be able to create an enabling environment, as there were many other agents with more influence. However, there are evidence, that the political influence of SLMA is increasing, partly due to t2t.
Subject(s) Empowerment; Midwife; Professional Association; Partnership
Language en_US
Type of publication Thesis; IU-studier / International Development Studies - Master thesis
Repository Roskilde - Roskilde University Digital Archive (RUDAR)
Added to C-A: 2016-10-05;10:03:32