Archive | ILCA 2014 Conference

The United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA) has announced its intent to change its relationship with the International Lactation Consultant Association® (ILCA®). USCLA will establish an operation fully independent of ILCA so that USLCA may focus on the unique challenges of the IBCLC® in the United States. Nonetheless, ILCA is committed to a continuing collaboration with USLCA to advocate for the IBCLC. As always, ILCA will support its members worldwide.

We are all international and part of a global community. Every region in the world  – including the United States – has particular needs, which are, by design, capably managed by the local and affiliate organizations. Those local efforts are supported and enhanced by the international advocacy provided by ILCA.

You may be asking what all of this means for US members. Currently, all US members hold a joint membership with USLCA and ILCA. The recent change will effectively “unbundle” membership. However, all of your member benefits through the end of the 2014 calendar year, both those that come from ILCA and USLCA, will remain unchanged. Starting next year, you are encouraged to maintain membership in both organizations.

We know that one of your first questions is likely about how the new memberships will be structured. Although ILCA only recently learned of these changes, we are already hard at work creating a plan. Over the next few weeks, we will be exploring a new membership package that continues to put the needs of our members at the forefront. As the premier global association advocating for the International Board Certified Lactation Consultant profession, ILCA is home to all IBCLCs worldwide, providing services unavailable elsewhere. If you have ideas, questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact us at info@ilca.org.

Three ILCA presidents – past, present, and incoming – have come together to share a major announcement today during the ILCA conference: a new vision for ILCA. You can learn more by watching the video created by all three presidents and reading on in this post. We want to know what you think! Please share your feedback in the comments below.

We are proud to share with you the International Lactation Consultant Association’s new vision: 

Our mission statement remains the same:

To advance the International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) profession worldwide through leadership, advocacy, professional development, and research.

Why change vision statements?

A vision statement serves many functions: to explain “why” our work is important, to inspire participation and support, and to show the outcomes we plan to achieve. It goes hand-in-hand with the mission statement, which shows “how” ILCA will achieve those outcomes.

Our previous vision statement was:

The IBCLC is the globally recognized professional authority in lactation.

This is a powerful statement that IBCLCs know to be true, and has been affirmed in countless settings. Ursuline Singelton summed it up best by saying this: “IBCLCs empower mothers and save babies’ lives.”

But this statement only shows the world “how” we will get “where we truly hope to go.” It does not tell the world why IBCLCs are so critical: Because we are transforming world health.

ILCA’s new vision statement does not reflect a change in ILCA’s priorities or what we will continue to do on a day-to-day basis: promote the profession of the IBCLC.

What it does reflect is the world-changing work that IBCLCs are doing every day: transforming world health.

It goes beyond self-promotion to a much broader vision of the real purpose for the work that the IBCLC does. ILCA envisions a world where health is not just attainable by privileged people, but a reality for all families, including vulnerable populations, where access to good health is much more challenging—and this vision is only made realistic by ILCA’s collaboration with the other 100 entities in the breastfeeding community that are working to move the same needle. ILCA’s new vision recognizes the fact that we share the “why” with many others.

If we aspire to see every child to grow up with the best chance in life possible, we must recognize that breastfeeding is central to that call. IBCLCs are the pivotal drivers of that global transformation.

IBCLCs don’t just provide breastfeeding support and care, we embrace evidence- based care using a high level of skill under the world’s only globally recognized credential.

ILCA’s vision is a rallying point for us all, highlighting our unique role and bringing us together to make a difference for our world.

If you are excited as we are by the new vision, and you agree that we need a world transformed by breastfeeding and skilled lactation care, please join us in celebrating our new vision. Help us to help mothers and babies by joining ILCA and becoming an active member of our community.

Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC, FILCA

ILCA President 2012-14

Cathy Carothers, BLA, IBCLC, FILCA

ILCA President 2010-12

Decalie Brown, RN, IBCLC, CFHN, BHMtg

ILCA President, 2-14-16