MAMA BABY INTERNATIONAL
Lowering the maternal and neonatal mortality rate in Haiti, one mother and baby at a time.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
In Haiti, 1 in 21 infants do not make it to age one. One in every 208 women die of pregnancy related causes, childbirth, or within the immediate postpartum period.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
MamaBaby Haiti Birthing Centers
MamaBaby Haiti has three fully-operational birthing center in Haiti. We provide FREE prenatal, birth, postpartum and newborn midwifery care including labs, ultrasounds, and a nutrition program for severely malnourished pregnant and nursing women. This model has been proven to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality rates.
MamaBaby Haiti Midwifery School
Most maternal and neonatal deaths are preventable. To ensure universal coverage for maternity care, an estimated 350,000 midwives are needed globally. An investment in midwives can save millions of lives every year. In September of 2016 we opened our midwifery school, and our first class graduated in June 2018. In 2022, we plan to graduate 30 midwives and send them into their communities to serve women and newborns.
MamaBaby Haiti Mobile Clinic
Every week we travel to remote locations to provide care for women who otherwise would get none. One of the mountain villages is a five hour walk from MamaBaby that women make when in labor. We go by boat and hike 90 minutes up a mountain trail to give them prenatal and postnatal care.
Our mobile clinics also visit the inner city slums of Cap Haitien where at-risk women have difficulty getting access to care due to lack of financial resources.
MamaBaby Haiti Education
We teach mothers and families about prenatal health and nutrition, hygiene, childbirth education, breastfeeding education with the goal of exclusive breastfeeding for a minimum of one year, and family planning.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of mothers reporting that they breast-feed their babies
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
MamaBaby Haiti Education
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of pregnant women giving birth at a health facility
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
MamaBaby Haiti Birthing Centers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
MamaBaby International ("MamaBaby Haiti") is on a mission to lower the maternal and neonatal mortality rate in Haiti, one mother and baby at a time.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our strategy is two-part. The first is providing skilled prenatal, birth, and postpartum care free of charge for women and infants in Haiti to address the urgent need for life-saving care. This includes newborn care and nutrition education as well as medications like prenatal vitamins, iron, and more.
The second part of our strategy is training local nurses to be skilled midwives in their own communities, sustainably reducing the problem of maternal and neonatal mortality in Haiti. In 2022, we'll be able to graduate 30 Haitian midwives and send them out into their communities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
MamaBaby International has three birth centers (Cap-Haiten, Lascahobas, Les Cayes) to meet our goals. We have 16 full-time midwives to care for mothers and infants and train each new class of midwives.
Each year, we host volunteer midwives, photographers, and more to aid in MamaBaby's efforts. Their financial contribution for volunteering helps cover our operating costs.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2022, MamaBaby Haitian midwives attended over 28,000 appointments and 1,800 births. In 2022, we graduated 10 Haitian midwives.
This year we are completing our new birth center in Cap-Haiten. Our new birth center will increase our impact and MamaBaby midwives will be able to attend 200+ births and 2,000 women each month for care. With a larger midwifery school, we will be able to graduate 30 Haitian midwives every two years, sending them into their communities to lower the maternal and neonatal mortality rate in Haiti.
In the future, we hope to expand MamaBaby's efforts beyond Haiti to countries with dire maternal and neonatal mortality rates. There, we'll open birth centers and midwifery schools and save lives on mama and baby at a time.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
We serve women and children with our mission to lower the maternal and neonatal mortality rates in Haiti. We see women from pregnancy through birth and postpartum visits. We also serve the midwives we employ annually by training them and paying them a living wage.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Oral Feedback,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
Recently, a volunteer midwife shared that she didn't believe a breech birth was handled appropriately. Afterwards, a doctor specializing in breech births came and hosted a training for our midwives.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
Our board,
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How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
By asking for feedback from the women we serve as well as the Haitien midwives we employ, the needs of the community are communicated through them directly. We do not have "middle-men," just community-need and then MamaBaby's actions.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We act on the feedback we receive,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
MAMA BABY INTERNATIONAL
Board of directorsas of 01/23/2023
Jennifer Gallardo
Patricia Couch
Julie Shivley
Fernanado Gallardo
Echo Zielinski
Trista Slowik
Renee Sicignano
Julie Shivley
Donna Hanson
Alisa Godfrey
Carmelle Moise
Patricia Couch
Jennifer Gallardo
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/17/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.