Dorotheenstr. 48
40235 Dusseldorf
Germany
- Human rights
The Empowered Birth Movement is an independent nonprofit organization, made up of 8 founding members (including a 3 person Board of Directors), 3 interns, and 2 volunteers representing nationalities from Germany, USA, Hungary, Czech Republic, Iran, Italy, Turkey, Denmark, and Hong Kong -- 100% have lived experience as an immigrant. We are very recently-founded and work with limited financial resources from donations, as such we are entirely volunteer-run. Our modalities of action right now are collaborating with healthcare institutions to create and disseminate "fact sheets" in a variety of languages to make healthcare information more accessible. We are creating intersectoral partnerships with hospitals, NGOs, government agencies, and research institutions to overcome barriers that "illegitimize" community-based social support or peer-to-peer models of maternal health support.
Our goal is tackling medical racism, obstetric violence, and social determinants of poor maternal and neonatal health through a Systems Thinking and intersectional justice lens. We are advancing the availability, affordability, and accessibility of health information and community health workers that can uniquely empower and support birthing people to make informed decisions for themselves and their babies, as well as bridge the cultural and linguistic gap between healthcare systems and immigrants.
Creation and dissemination of multi-lingual "Fact Sheets" (i.e. Your Rights during Birth, Newborn Hospital Procedures, Childbirth Edu, C-Section Indications, Infant Sleep Safety, Post-Partum Depression, etc) in collaboration with medical professionals. Matching vulnerable women with doulas who can guide them through pregnancy, birth, and post-partum and help them navigate the healthcare system.
We are the only intersectional maternal health equity organization in Germany. Empowered Birth Movement can therefore provide meaningful participation and valuable perspective of intercultural dialogue and culturally congruent care from a healthcare and human rights perspective. We believe we can be agents of change best by uplifting those around us and that can look like contributing our knowledge, skills, perspective, time, and energy to causes that align with our own values in whatever capacity possible.
We want to join the Network above all to advance respectful and empathetic dialogue in the healthcare sector about refugee/migrant experiences and that promotes culturally and linguistically congruent care. This is our utmost priority and we believe this aligns with the values and goals of the ALF Network. By engaging midwives in our projects, we break down the stigma behind "doulas" (i.e. non-medical, community-based social support for pregnant people and new parents) as well as open the door to anti-racism training and exchange about different cultural perceptions/experiences of birth and parenthood.