Field Placement:  White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood
Location: Washington, DC
Preceptor: Bridget McHenry
Student Name: Kate Fatta
Year: 2008

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is a not for profit organization that works to increase awareness and influence policy on maternal mortality. The Global Secretariat is based in Washington, DC, and the White Ribbon Alliance has members in 104 countries around the world, and 11 formally recognized national alliances. The White Ribbon Alliance works to create a world where all women have access to health care during pregnancy, women are empowered, and where men, communities, and governments come together to support and increase safe motherhood.

Theresa Shaver is the founder and Executive Director of the White Ribbon Alliance, and Bridget McHenry, Program Advisor, served as my Preceptor. Betsy McCallon, Senior Program Advisor, also provided me with guidance during my internship.

While working at the White Ribbon Alliance over the summer of 2008, I had two main projects. One was to create a Safe Motherhood and HIV tool-kit, replacing the out of date Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV tool-kit. The second, similar project, was to finish the Advocacy tool-kit, a project which had been started by a previous intern. The tool-kits are for alliance members to use as needed to increase their knowledge, their effectiveness in their efforts to support safe motherhood, and to be used to influence policy. The tool-kits are to be available both on the White Ribbon Alliance website, and by CD-Rom for alliance members.

Creating the tool-kits required much research and reading. I needed to gain some understanding as to who the alliance members are and what information they would need. The format of the tool-kits was left up to me, as well as the topics covered within them. After selecting the articles and format, I summarized each one in order to help members quickly decide whether or not the article would provide them with the information they were looking for.

Another side project that I assisted on was with AIDSTAR-One, a new USAID funded program, in the compilation of promising programmatic practices in the field of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. AIDSTAR-One is creating a database of information about promising programmatic practices in the field, which will be used to influence future programs. My role was to assist on Key Informant interviews, acting as scribe. Not only did this help AIDSTAR-One with their information collection, but it also influenced the Safe Motherhood and HIV toolkit. I even had the opportunity to review and rate a program for AIDSTAR-One.

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