Abstract
Over the last 18 months, ILCA has visited with members all over the globe in its Listening Tour series. Board members have hosted events in the UK, the USA, Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, and upcoming in Italy, and visited with hundreds of members and IBCLCs. We have connected through our stories and the reasons why we are all brought to this work every day, and we have learned about the ways that ILCA supports you and how we can do even better in the future. The resounding message we continue to hear is that increased recognition of the profession would affect your practice the most. To ensure we achieve this, ILCA is updating its Strategic Map to focus on education, promotion, and advocacy for the profession. To best serve our members through education:
Webinars are now closed captioned, expanding access for the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our community.
ILCA updated its technology platforms to ensure easy access to its member resources.
ILCA webinars, independent study modules, and all continuing education are now only available to ILCA members.
ILCA publications, the Clinical Guidelines and the Triage Tool, are now included in ILCA memberships for no additional fee. Printed versions are still available for purchase. Revised versions are in development.
To best serve our members through advocacy and promotion:
An advocacy advisor position was created to guide the advocacy strategy and initiatives of the organization.
ILCA re-established NGO status with the World Health Organization, participated in the Global Breastfeeding Collective, and attended global events like Codex, the International Labour Organization centennial, and the World Breastfeeding Conference.
ILCA attended partner events like the United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA) Conference and the European Lactation Consultants Alliance (ELACTA) Conference.
ILCA has reinvigorated its partner program and relations globally.
Our IBCLC members are getting greater visibility through ILCA’s Find A Lactation Consultant Directory
We will continue each of these initiatives moving forward to ensure that skilled lactation care is recognized for its critical role in transforming world health through breastfeeding and chestfeeding.
ILCA will further support its membership by offering its 2020 ILCA Conference in Houston, Texas, USA in July 2020, and we hope you will join us in person or virtually. More details can be found at www.ilca.org.