White Ribbon Alliance

White Ribbon Alliance

Formation	1999
Type	Advocacy Coalition
Headquarters	Washington, D.C./London
Executive Director	Theresa Shaver
Website	[1]

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) is a nonpartisan, non-profit and non-governmental organization that aims to increase global grassroots advocacy and government accountability for safe motherhood.

Every minute somewhere in the world a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth. 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries. Almost all can be prevented. The WRA is raising awareness of this shameful injustice – and demanding deep-rooted political change to end the needless deaths of mothers around the world.

Mission Statement

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is a grassroots movement that builds alliances, strengthens capacity, influences policies, harnesses resources and inspires action to save the lives of women and newborns around the world.

Overview

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) is an international coalition of individuals and organizations formed to promote increased public awareness of the need to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all women and newborns in developing, as well as, developed countries. Membership is free, and anyone can join by registering through the WRA website. The WRA began in 1999 through the efforts of a group of individuals and organizations committed to raising awareness of the over 500,000 unnecessary deaths each year due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. The WRA’s advocacy efforts grew from 1999 to 2009 into a global movement with thousands of individual and organization members in over 100 countries.

The WRA has been a leader in holding governments and institutions to account for the tragedy of maternal mortality. WRA is amplifying the voices of people suffering from the greatest burden of morbidity and mortality of complications due to pregnancy and childbirth.

National Alliances

The WRA’s successful model centers on cultivating and sustaining stakeholders for safe motherhood through the support of national, regional, and global alliances. The Alliance members truly represent a “global community” comprised of local, national, and international NGOs, medical practitioners, community and faith based organizations, UN organizations, government representatives, academics, and individuals.

National Alliances are coalitions and partnerships in respective countries that have moved from awareness of maternal mortality to action at the community, district, and national levels, and have developed sustainable country-driven campaigns. Each National Alliance is built according to its own needs and circumstances, but all share the common goal of improving access to information and maternal and neonatal services for women and their families. Since 1999, the WRA has expanded to currently include 13 National Alliances established in Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia.

Initiatives of the Global Secretariat

Mothers Day Every Day: The Campaign for Healthy Moms and Newborns: A US-based campaign launched February 27 2009 and sponsored by The White Ribbon Alliance and CARE calling for greater U.S. leadership to accelerate progress toward safe and healthy pregnancy and childbirth globally. Many influential leaders and politicians are members of the Mothers Day Every Day Advisory Committee such as co-chair Donna Shalala, former Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services; co-chair Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF; Maria Cino, President and CEO Republican National Convention 2008; and Mark R. Dybul, former United States Global AIDS Coordinator.

Million Mums: This campaign launched on the 22nd of March 2009, Mother’s Day in the UK, to raise awareness about maternal death globally. The campaign has two simple aims: To sign up a million people and raise a million pounds to prevent women from dying in pregnancy and childbirth. The campaign has high profile support from Sarah Brown and from a host of celebrities including Davina McCall, The Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Claudia Winkleman, Eve Pollard, Kirsty Young, Helena Christensen, Lauren Laverne, Mariella Frostrup, Meera Syal, Myleene Klass, Naomi Campbell, Bill Nighy, The Duchess also designed a special pin for the campaign available to the first 25,000 people that donate.

Global Maternal Mortality Campaign: Stemming from the progress and commitments of 2008, the 2009 Global Maternal Mortality Campaign is maintaining momentum and maximizing delivery on the promises made towards safe motherhood on a global, national and community level. This campaign’s objectives are:

• Establish a major new innovative financing mechanism to fund health systems.

• 20 countries to have financed health plans in place by 2010, to meet the WHO recommended levels of 2.3 workers per 1,000 people by 2015.

• Appointment by the UN Secretary General of someone on Maternal Mortality.

• Appoint national champions to mobilize action at a national level.

• Agree on, and develop delivery plans for, a small number of high impact interventions (via the ongoing meetings amongst various groups and with regular circulated materials to all campaigning partners).

• Ensure maternal mortality is recognized as a key indicator of a functioning health system.

Promise to Mothers Lost: A former 2008 campaign by the White Ribbon Alliance to ignite action and mobilize people to raise awareness and improve polices on maternal health. The campaign targeted powerful global institutions and governments, holding world leaders to account during the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, DC in April, World Economic Forum in South Africa in June, G8 Summit in Japan in July and UN Summit in New York in September. The Promise to Mother Lost Campaign was made possible through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Stories of Mothers Lost: A Promise of Healthy Pregnancy and Safe Childbirth for All: A multimedia exhibition created by men and women who have lost a mother, sister, partner or friend in pregnancy or childbirth. The exhibition was created by the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood with support from the United Nations Population Fund and brought together fabric panels dedicated to the testimony of maternal death from 20 countries. Stories of Mothers Lost traveled together with advocates for maternal health who targeted powerful global institutions and governments. They held world leaders to account during high-profile meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington D.C., the World Economic Forum in South Africa, the G8 Summit in Japan, and the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals in New York. Images of these fabric panels have subsequently been made into a calendar and book available to the public.

WRA Supporters

The tragedy of maternal death has attracted the attention of numerous prominent individuals around the world who have committed to speaking out for this cause. The WRA is supported by First Ladies, celebrities, and other influential individuals around the world including the WRA’s Global Patron Sarah Brown, wife of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Thousands of WRA supporters, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Thompson, Judi Dench and Claudia Schiffer, have added their name to an open letter to global leaders asking them to make the necessary changes to save mothers' lives. Other WRA supporters include Queen Rania of Jordan; Bill Nighy; Naomi Campbell; Christy Turlington Burns; Tammy Haddad; Sarah Ferguson; Wendi Murdoch; Star Thomas; Djata Ilebou; Emma Freud; Diana Quick; Anna Chancellor; The Sugababes; Maya Masai; Takuma Sato; and many more ambassadors in WRA National Alliances worldwide.

See Also

“Maternal Death”

“Maternal Health”

External Links

http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org
http://www.mothersdayeveryday.org/
http://www.millionmums.org
http://www.twitter.com/WRAGLOBAL
http://www.myspace.com/whiteribbonalliance
http://www.youtube.com/whiteribbonalliance