Midwives at the Edges

What it reported doing in 2025

In our first full year of operation, Midwives @ the Edges continued to grow our network of midwives, hosted a mini-conference, released the Midwives Mobile Stats app, and implemented projects in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Peru. Below are summaries of each of these activitiesNetwork growth: Our network of midwives and other birth workers now includes over 150 people. In 2025, we hosted quarterly network calls with over 100 participants. We also started hosting quarterly peer reviews for midwives living overseas and currently have 18 participants enrolled. Conferences: Our long-term goal is to host at least 2 free conferences per year. In 2025, Midwives @ the Edges hosted a free 3-day conference open to local birth workers in Iraq. 15 doulas and midwives attended and improved their skills in neonatal resuscitation and knowledge of best practices related to caring for women in labor and birth. MIDWIVES @ THE EDGES PROGRAM SERVICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2025 Midwife Mobile Stats app: In January 2025, Midwives @ the Edges released a free app that can be used by midwives globally to track their personal birth statistics. To date, there are over 100 users. In Afghanistan, Midwives @ the Edges trained community health workers in Essential Newborn Care 1 (Helping Babies Breathe) and Helping Mothers Survive Bleeding after Birth. While in-country, we also worked with the Cure Hospital to train their staff in the same skills. In total, we trained 186 individuals, 41 of whom will receive follow-up mentoring to prepare them to train on their own. Moving forward, we have been invited to continue partnering with the Cure Hospital and other on-the-ground organizations and work together to impact maternal and newborn health in Afghanistan. We did overrun our estimated budget of $12,245 by $3,180 (for a total cost of $15,425) due to underestimated travel, in-country, and translation costs. In Iraq, Midwives @ the Edges came alongside an expat midwife who lives long-term in Kurdistan to help her implement a training program in her region. We were instrumental in helping her get the Memorandums of Understanding with the local departments of health and supported her in bringing a team of midwives from Australia and the US to Iraq to deliver three weeks of Essential Newborn Care 1 and Essential Care for Labor and Birth to staff from 4 hospitals in 3 locations. In total, we trained 203 people. Overall, the project was successful and has opened the door for the midwife to have a deeper impact in her communities. The project was delivered on time and met all goals but was over budget. The cost of the project exceeded incoming designated donations by 100%, which was covered by M@tEs unrestricted fund. Midwives @ the Edges completed an exploratory trip to Peru in response to indigenous leaders requests for maternal and newborn health training. We delivered maternal and newborn health trainings for 33 community health workers from 6 tribes in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. While M@tE was able to provide groundwork for improving community health workers ability to address maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality in their context, it is our recommendation that the traditional birth attendants and midwives from their communities be included in any future trainings. This will result in the opportunity for community-wide transformation and a greater impact of targeted training that addresses their needs and knowledge gaps. This project was completed on time, exceeded expectations.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 73.7%; rating input score 74
• Program expense ratio: 90.4%; rating input score 90

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 18.5%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
• Officer compensation ratio: 19.2%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: Limited
• Revenue growth: Limited
• Asset growth: Limited