The impact of Twinning up North: A qualitative exploration among Icelandic and Dutch midwives

Globally, midwives are underrepresented in leadership roles and excluded from critical decision-making processes, meaning they cannot adequately influence policy or provide high quality care and ensure women's sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Twinning is defined as a cross-cultural reciprocal process where two groups of people work together to achieve joint goals. Research shows that twinning between groups of midwives contributes to leadership capacity and can increase the power of midwives. In the Twinning up North project, midwives from Iceland and the Netherlands worked together to achieve joined goals.

The aim of this study was to explore the impact of Twinning up North on the participant midwives' personal and professional growth.

Data were collected using the Most Significant Change methodology, collecting participants' stories on the impact of the project, and subsequently conducting two focus groups to deeper explore their responses.

Taking part in the Twinning up North project made most participants 1. Feel inspired by other twins; 2. Feel like a leader; 3. Communicate more confidently with other professionals; 4. Promote the physiology of birth; and 5. Make midwifery visible in their communities. The basic condition for growth to occur was a positive group interaction expressed by the feeling of belonging, peer support, and building trustful relationships.

Twinning is a complex and dynamic process where growth does not occur in a linear way. However, the twinning programme can be used to promote personal and professional growth to encourage midwives to take on leadership roles.