Family Care International (FCI), the organizing partner for WOMEN DELIVER, has been a leader in the Safe Motherhood movement since before the term was coined.

Founded in 1987, FCI was one of the  first NGOs to place maternal health at the center of its mission.  Over the past 20 years, FCI, led by founding president Jill Sheffield, has developed  and advocated for effective practices for reducing maternal mortality across the globe, and fought to bring the issue of Safe Motherhood into the world development mainstream.

At the Safe Motherhood Conference in Nairobi, Kenya—where the Safe Motherhood Initiative was launched—FCI played a key role in setting the agenda, coordinating  meeting logistics, and documenting and disseminating  conference findings. As secretariat to the Safe Motherhood Inter-Agency Group, FCI helped shape the global Safe Motherhood agenda. FCI’s work with and on behalf of the IAG influenced policymaking  at the global and national levels, set technical priorities, and raised awareness around the public health tragedy of maternal mortality.

Today, FCI combines research and advocacy with hands-on work, and has field offices in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. As organizing partner for WOMEN DELIVER, FCI will bring together partners from diverse sectors to work toward the shared goal of truly safe motherhood and a world where  women, mothers, and newborns can survive and thrive.

For more information on Family Care International, visit the group’s web site. Click here