In 1986, the world was paying little attention to the hundreds of thousands of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth each year. Family Care International was the first international organization dedicated to maternal health, founded out of a determination to remedy this neglect. FCI has been working ever since — collaboratively, innovatively, and effectively — to make pregnancy and childbirth safer around the world. As testament to the impact of our work, FCI was the 2008 recipient of the United Nations Population Award.
OUR WORK
With field offices in five countries in Africa and Latin America, and activities and materials that span the world, FCI pursues a world where no woman suffers preventable injury or death from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes and in which all people are able to enjoy their sexual and reproductive health and rights. In the halls of power, FCI — one of the world’s leading voices for maternal and reproductive health — fights for political commitment, stronger policies, and more funding for programs that save women’s lives. In remote villages, we work with local partners and communities to raise awareness, create innovative solutions and tools, and implement effective programs and services that improve maternal and reproductive health outcomes in the communities where women are still dying every day. And always, our work is designed to empower individuals and strengthen and support civil society.
These two approaches — building capacity locally while advocating globally — inform each other, translating "big picture" thinking into on-the-ground reality, and vice versa. We build smart partnerships with the people who really know and understand local conditions and cultures, and work together to provide women with the services that they desperately need. We produce high-quality, culturally-appropriate advocacy and education materials that reinforce our programs, assist our partners, and empower and inform communities and individuals. And when the discussions are serious and the stakes are high, FCI is there at the table, bringing political savvy, technical expertise, and years of experience to the search for practical and principled solutions.
Integral to our work, at all levels, is an insistence that effective programs and persuasive advocacy must both be built on a foundation of hard evidence. "If FCI says it," according to one of our partners, "it’s verified."
Our Partners
FCI works with governments, non-governmental organizations, professional groups, and international agencies to make pregnancy and childbirth safer around the world. We build partnerships at all levels to fight for stronger commitments to women's health, share ideas and experiences, respond to local needs, maximize effective use of resources, minimize duplication, and encourage replication of successful models and approaches.
Where We Work
A non-profit organization, FCI has active programs in 18 countries in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. FCI's African presence spans English and French-speaking countries, with programs implemented currently through field offices in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Mali. In Latin America and the Caribbean, FCI has a field office presence in Bolivia and Ecuador, with programs also in Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
