The IPOV Digital Platform
The IPOV Platform is the central digital tool of the IPOV – Respectful Care project
We want our platform to serve as a living repository of unique knowledge, developed through an interdisciplinary process grounded in the project’s international secondments and in joint work among universities, hospitals, observatories, and civil society organisations across Europe and Latin America.
We bring together research-based content (analyses, bibliographies, articles, survey reports, and case studies) and original photographic and audiovisual materials, including short videos documenting exchanges, learning processes, and training activities.
Our purpose is to collect, cross-validate, and make accessible comparative evidence and experiences on obstetric violence and respectful maternity care, supporting understanding across different national contexts.
Through this comparative approach, we explore the ethical, political, social, and legal dimensions of obstetric violence, as well as its recognition as gender-based violence. We also provide a strong foundation for developing practical tools and free, specialised online training, aimed at knowledge transfer and at transforming care practices throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period.
Thematic Areas of the Platform
_ What Is the Platform
and How Can You Get Involved?
Explore, share, and co-create with the global community
These are the six thematic areas currently active on the IPOV Platform. In the next phase, an international directory will be added to bring together Obstetric Violence Observatories and related organisations from around the world, strengthening comparative perspectives and collaboration.
The platform will also include a dedicated Art section and a Social Movements section, designed to highlight experiences, narratives and forms of activism related to respectful maternity care.
In the coming years, the platform will progressively integrate practical tools and open training resources, developed from the knowledge exchange activities and international secondments carried out by the IPOV team. These materials will support knowledge transfer and contribute to improving practices in pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal care.
1
Definition and Use
A curated set of texts from IPOV professionals that clarify how obstetric violence is defined and used, and analyse its ethical, political and social implications, including its recognition as a form of gender-based violence.
2
Restorative Justice
This section presents a selection of texts written by members of the IPOV project team, exploring how restorative justice can serve as an ethical and transformative approach to address obstetric violence.
3
Trasformative Practices
A series of texts produced by the IPOV team, resulting from meetings, research, and interdisciplinary dialogue among health professionals, academics, and activists from both sides of the Atlantic.
4
Training
The Training section of the IPOV platform aims to develop professional, ethical, and reflective competencies among students, healthcare professionals, educators, trainers, and managers.
5
Perinatal Mental Health
This section aims to make these intersections visible and to examine them through comparative perspectives and with attention to the social determinants of perinatal mental health.
6
Obstetric Violence Observatories
This section of the IPOV platform presents Obstetric Violence Observatories: activist, civil society initiatives with a clear political mandate.
7
ARTivism & VOices
Why this section. Because where words fall short, art allows us to access dimensions of experience that go beyond what can be narrated. And in the context of obstetric violence, offering an artistic space is not an add-on; it is an ethical necessity.
8
Global Research
This section provides a concise overview of international research on obstetric violence, highlighting key findings, debates, and cross-country differences.
9
Public Policies
A compilation of policy documents, guidelines and governmental actions that shape maternity care systems and influence the prevention of obstetric violence.
10
National Laws
An overview of legal frameworks from different countries, highlighting how obstetric violence is recognised, regulated or addressed through legislation.
Project IPOV RESPECTFULCARE has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-MSCA-2022-Staff Exchange programme. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Research-based written resources
The platform publishes texts produced by professionals taking part in the project: comparative analyses, annotated bibliographies, short articles, survey reports and case studies.
These materials are organised into interconnected thematic sections such as research and tools, public policies and good practices, health professional training, women and social movements, breastfeeding and newborn care, as well as human rights and legislation, and news and opportunities.
Alongside written documents, the platform also includes original photographic and audiovisual content, including short videos that capture international exchange experiences and training activities.
Purpose, Approach and Future Development
The IPOV Platform is an evolving knowledge hub designed to support reflection, dialogue and action on obstetric violence and respectful maternity care.
Through interdisciplinary reflections and comparisons across diverse regional contexts, the platform’s materials examine the ethical, political, social and legal implications of obstetric violence, as well as its recognition as a form of gender-based violence.
Building on this work, the platform will serve as the foundation for developing practical tools and specialised online training—free and openly accessible—to support knowledge transfer and contribute to transforming pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal care practices.
The IPOV Platform is inspired by the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). Although it is not a technical research-data repository, we use FAIR as a reference to organise and present our materials in ways that make them easier to find, access and reuse whenever context, resources and technical constraints allow. This will be particularly important in the final phase of the project (2027), when we will work so that most texts, resources, tools and training materials are offered in formats and practices as closely aligned with FAIR as reasonably possible.
