Birthrights’ Training Manager, Farah Lodhi, shares her reflections and learnings from our Baring-funded Community Conversations project.
About Community Conversations
The support of the Baring Foundation has enabled us at Birthrights not only to grow our work in communities, but to deepen it. With this funding, we are strengthening the relationships that make lasting change possible, building connections with local groups, advocates and families so that more people know their rights during pregnancy and childbirth.
As part of the research and development phase of this project, we did a call out to civil society organisations across the UK to invite them to apply for a small grant, to coproduce and collaborate on a “Community Conversation” which focuses on their understanding of human rights in maternity care, and to what extent they know about such legal rights to self-advocate for their rights.
From the vast number of organisations who applied, we have selected four civil society organisations up and down the country which aligned with the criteria of those whom are most marginalised. We have to date completed community conversations in London, Cardiff and Leeds, with our final session to be held in Newcastle.
This feels like an important step for Birthrights, and for our community power building work, where we can really understand what is happening on the ground, what issues marginalised people are facing and how they can use their rights to advocate for themselves for their maternity care.
We have so far identified some common themes which reveal what types of barriers are restricting marginalised groups from speaking up, accessing safe and equitably maternity care. People have also reflected on how these conversations have created a sense of space for them to genuinely come together, reflect on birth, pregnancy and share their experiences. We have witnessed the power of diversity in all its glory, and this has been wonderfully refreshing given the deeply divided times we are living in today.
It’s an exciting phase of this project, and it feels like just the beginning. We hope to build on this, which will amount to a further understanding of what tools are needed for us to better support women and birthing people in marginalised communities and how different groups can come together to better understand their rights in maternity care.
Most importantly this is about knowledge, conversation and creating spaces where people feel informed, confident and supported to speak up.
By working alongside communities, we aim to ensure that everyone can access clear information about their rights and the support they deserve.
“Our Community Conversations with Birthrights was the perfect day of education, lived experience, and creation. Our community felt centred in the conversations and hopeful that their reflections and ideas would be used to create training resources to improve human rights in maternity care. We had great feedback and know that our community members are hoping for additional sessions with Birthrights in the future.” — Sinnead Ali (WOMB CIC) reflects on our Cardiff community conversation
Read reflections from our London community conversation co-produced with the Red Tent Doula Collective here.