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.[not verified in body] 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.[not verified in body] 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]
