FIRST MEETING OF CAN-MNCH
20 November 2011
Ottawa, Canada
Proceedings of the Meeting
Background
The first face-to-face meeting of the Canadian Network for Maternal Newborn and Child Health
(CAN-MNCH) took place in a closed session on 20 November 2011 in Ottawa, Canada, in parallel
with both the second Ministerial Roundtable on the Muskoka Initiative on November 22, Ottawa,
hosted by the Honourable Minister of International Cooperation, Beverly J. Oda and the second
International Stakeholders Meeting on Implementing the Recommendations of the Commission on
Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health (CoIA), Ottawa, November 20-22,
co-hosted by WHO and Canada at the occasion of “Delivering Results for Women and Children”
Forum.
The purpose of the first CAN-MNCH meeting was to: 1) Report on activities of the Network to date
and currently planned; 2) Discuss the value and role of the Network; 3) Agree on a list of metrics to
take forward to the second Ministerial Roundtable on the Muskoka Initiative; and 4) Review the draft
Terms of Reference. The present document summarizes the discussions and action points at the first
meeting of the Canadian Network for Maternal Newborn and Child Health.
Opening
Rosemary McCarney welcomed the Network Partners to the Inaugural CAN-MNCH meeting and
facilitated Network Partner’s introductions. Dr. Dorothy Shaw provided background information
about the Network and the context for this initiative. In November 2010, the Honourable Minister of
International Cooperation, Beverley J. Oda, hosted a Roundtable on the Muskoka Initiative, attended
by leaders from Canadian organizations involved in maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH).
Subsequently, at the Minister’s request, Dr. Dorothy Shaw (Canada Spokesperson for G8/G20,
Partnership for MNCH, Geneva) and Rosemary McCarney (President and CEO, Plan International
Canada, Inc.) agreed to coordinate the establishment of a Canadian Network for MNCH (CANMNCH). Helen Scott was hired as the Coordinator for the pilot initiative in May 2011.
CAN-MNCH is a pilot initiative to determine possible synergies between different Canadian
constituents, in order to facilitate integration across the Health Millennium Development Goals (1c, 4,
5, 6). The goal of this Network is to foster synergy and collaborative relationships between
organizations working on MNCH, through the sharing of information, as well as providing advice to
the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This pilot initiative was undertaken with the
financial support of the Government of Canada provided through CIDA (<$100,000).
As described by Dr. Shaw, one year since the launch of Every Woman Every Child, progress updates
and recent publications highlight achievements and the need to keep pushing for improvement in
women's and children's health worldwide.
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Report on activities to date and currently planned
The first phase of this initiative involved surveying potential partner organizations and developing an
appropriate web-based interface, through a mapping exercise of MNCH-related activities in current
CIDA-focus countries (and relevant global activities overall). The results this exercise are reported in
the CAN-MNCH Mapping Exercise Report (available at www.can-mnch.ca/resources).
Helen Scott provided a snapshot of the information gathered through the Activity Survey/ Mapping
Exercise. The main purpose of the pilot project was to develop an online, up-to-date, interactive tool
that allowed the organizations and government bodies, - both Canadian and abroad - to explore the
nature, scope and type of MNCH-related work that Canadian organizations do and to promote
collaborative efforts among Canadian organizations working toward a common goal. The website
allows the users to explore detailed descriptions of the MNCH initiatives that are being done in 94
CIDA Focus, Global Strategy Priority and other countries. In addition to a brief description of the
programs being offered in-country, and the region where the organizations are working, the website
also provides information about program objectives, evaluation metrics used, descriptions of target
population, in-country workers and where to go to find more information about the program.
The website is intended to be a forum to bring Canadian organizations together to improve our efforts
at meeting the Health Millennium Development Goals - specifically saving the lives of women and
children. The website is a platform to launch synergistic activities in Canadian organization’s
combined efforts at meeting these goals. As described at the meeting, Canadians are truly doing
exceptional work around the world to make a difference in the lives of women and children.
Discussion on the value and role of CAN-MNCH
The second phase involves consulting partners on the level of support for creating a Canadian MNCH
Network and determining their unique value contribution. This will drive the development of
principles/mandates to guide future work of the Network.
Greatest potential value of CAN-MNCH
 Establish a common platform to promote better collaboration, coordination and innovation
amongst Canadian Partners in support of the MNCH initiative
 Inform the Canadian International Development Agency’s MNCH strategy and programming
 Exchange information on best practices and experiences
Organization’s contributing to CAN-MNCH
 Responses and discussions indicated willingness to share and collaborate
o Contribute to culturally-, country-, and sector- specific knowledge
o Technical expertise in program evaluation, monitoring and evaluation and evidencebased interventions
o Training, innovation, policy and advocacy
Value of annual discussion of CAN-MNCH activities in two sample countries
 A forum to discuss gaps in responses to global MNCH needs and to discuss initiatives that are
focused on priority setting, principles of engagement and technical professional development
may be more beneficial.
Value of the development of a repository of a common set of MNCH metrics and health indicators.
 Importance of recognizing the rich diversity of the Partners in joint efforts on metrics
 Understanding programming realities and aggregate reporting needs to be further unpacked
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Development of list of common metrics
The Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health was
convened by the WHO, and co-chaired by the President of Tanzania, H.E. Jakaya Kikwete and the
Prime Minister of Canada, H.E. Stephen Harper. In Summer 2011, the Commission presented the
report, Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, with its recommendations to ensure that resources are
spent in the most effective way to save lives and that pledges for women's and children's health are
honoured. The Commission report's ten recommendations address the need to improve health
information systems in countries and to track pledged resources and health expenditures for women
and children.
The third phase of the pilot CAN-MNCH initaitve involves the development and contribution to a
limited, common set of MNCH metrics for tracking and evaluating activities in-country, with
comparability for participating partners. This is aligned with Recommendations #5: “By 2012, in
order to facilitate resource tracking, “compacts” between country governments and all major
development partners are in place that require reporting, based on a format to be agreed in each
country, on externally funded expenditures and predictable commitments (page 4). These metrics
are meant to be developed through consultation with all partners, and aligned with recommended
metrics in the report from the Commission
Small group and consolidation session discussions determined the following:
Currently Tracking/Measuring
 All organizations were currently tracking or measuring at least one of the 11 Commission
indicators
 2/3 process measures; 1/3 outcome measures
Network Partner’s Contribution
 Strengthen the capacity of local governments/ Ministry of Health to improved data collection
systems
 Improve sustainability of Health Information Systems
Challenges
 Equity analysis: are results being achieved by the poorest and most vulnerable?
 We can collect the numerator, but what is the denominator?
 Limited resources, technical skills and overwhelming, non-standard reporting requirements
Future Directions
 Commitment to improving accountability
 Data repository on CAN-MNCH website
o Tools
o Data (counts/rates?)
o Results, case studies and Monitoring and Evaluation Reports
CAN-MNCH Terms of Reference, rules and procedures
 Dr. Dorothy Shaw and Rosemary McCarney were unanimously voted to continue their role as
Co-chairs for the next 12 month period.
 David Tocyen (World Vision) and Anne Wilson (Canadian Association of Midwives) agreed
to oversee an election of the Steering Committee
 A funding proposal for CAN-MNCH will be undertaken
 Terms of Reference and other documentation to follow
Steering Committee Election: November 22, 2011
Acclaimed: Dave Toycen, Kevin McCort, Vyta Senikas
Elected: Alvin Zipursky
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Participants
Organization
African Medical and Research Foundation
Aga Khan Foundation Canada
BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre
Canadian Association of Midwives
Canadian Network for International Surgery
Canadian Nurses Association
Canadian Pediatric Society
Canadian Public Health Association
Canadian Red Cross Society
Canadian Society for International Health
CARE Canada
CAUSE Canada
Christian Children's Fund of Canada
CUSO-VSO
Dalhousie University
Dignitas International
Ghana Rural Integrated Development
Healthy Child Uganda
Impact First International
Médecins du Monde Canada
Micronutrient Initiative
Plan International Canada
Presbyterian World Service & Development
Programme for Global Paediatric Research
Save the Children Canada
Save the Mothers
Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
of Canada
SOS Children's Villages Canada
Attendee
Anne-Marie Kamanye
Abid Mallik
Jan Christilaw
Anne Wilson
-Debbie Grisdale
Marie Adele Davis
Marnie Davidson
Salim Sohani
Janet Hatcher Roberts
Kevin McCort
-Philip Tanner
Sam Landon
Shawna O’hearn
Jesse Clark
-Carolyn Pim
Dorothy Nyambi
-Pierre Lacerte
Tanjina Miraz
Leah Adema
Alvin Zipursky
P. Erb/ C. McWilliams
Dan Scott
Vyta Senikas
Email Address
akamanye@amrefcanada.org
khalil@akfc.ca
jchristilaw@cw.bc.ca
annewilson@cogeco.ca
Mark Bonomo
The Primate's World Relief and
Development Fund
University of British Columbia
World Vision Canada
Zaida Bastos
m.bonomo@soschildrensvillages.
ca
zbastos@pwrdf.org
dgrisdale@cna-aiic.ca
madavis@cps.ca
mdavidson@cpha.ca
salim.sohani@redcross.ca
jroberts@csih.org
kevin.mccort@care.ca
rsugay@ccfcanada.ca
sam.landon@cuso-vso.org]
shawna.ohearn@dal.ca
j.clarke@dignitasinternational.org
cppim@sympatico.ca
dnyambi@tdrinternational.org
placerte@micronutrient.org
tmirza@plancanada.ca
LAdema@presbyterian.ca
alvin.zipursky@sickkids.ca
perb@savethechildren.ca
ddscott@rogers.com
Vsenikas@sogc.com
Diane Sawchuck
E. Vandenberg/ D.
Toycen
Sandeep Prasad
dsawchuck@phsa.ca
dave_toycen@worldvision.ca
Nicci Stein
rcnakai@telusplanet.net
Mark Walker
mwalker@ohri.ca
RESULTS Canada
Jean Francois Tardiff
jean-francois@results-resultats.ca
Canadian Network for MNCH
Dorothy Shaw
dshaw@cw.bc.ca
Canadian Network for MNCH
Canadian Network for MNCH
Rosemary McCarney
Helen Scott
rmccarney@plancanada.ca
hscott@hollandbloorview.ca
Action Canada for Population and
Development
Interagency Coalition on AIDS and
Development
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Meeting Proceedings CAN-MNCH 2011
Sandeep@acpd.ca
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