Supporting organizations
and leaders shaping
maternal-newborn,
perinatal, and midwifery systems.
Civitas works with governments, NGOs, Indigenous leadership and organizations, health organizations, funders, international partners, and system leaders who are working to strengthen the policies, programs, services, and systems that shape care.
We support clients who are navigating complexity, aligning priorities, designing strategies, strengthening maternal-newborn, perinatal, and midwifery systems, and moving from ideas to meaningful, sustainable implementation.
Working Across Systems
Maternal-newborn and perinatal health systems are shaped by many people, organizations, and decisions. Stronger systems require connection across policy, funding, governance, workforce, education, regulation, service delivery, and community priorities.
Civitas helps bring these pieces together.
We work with clients across different parts of the system — from those setting policy and funding priorities, to those designing and implementing programs, to those delivering care in communities.
We work with a diverse range of partners across health systems and communities.
Our Clients & Partners
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We support ministries, health authorities, public agencies, regulators, and system leaders working to strengthen maternal-newborn, perinatal, and midwifery systems.
This may include strategy development, policy and program design, funding alignment, workforce planning, system reviews, implementation planning, and support for complex system change.
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We work with Indigenous organizations, leaders, care providers, and communities to support maternal-newborn, perinatal, and midwifery priorities in ways that are respectful, relationship-based, and grounded in self-determination.
Our role is to support planning, policy, program development, engagement, funding strategy, and implementation in ways that centre Indigenous leadership, community priorities, and culturally grounded approaches.
Civitas does not speak for Indigenous communities. We support the processes and systems that help Indigenous-led priorities move forward.
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We support health organizations, community-based services, hospitals, regional programs, and service leaders working to improve maternal-newborn and perinatal care.
This may include models of care, service redesign, implementation planning, care pathways, team-based approaches, rural and remote service planning, and strategies to strengthen access, quality, coordination, and sustainability.
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We work with midwifery providers and organizations, professional associations, regulators, educators, academic institutions, and system partners involved in strengthening maternity care and midwifery systems.
This may include governance, workforce planning, education alignment, policy development, funding strategy, standards, system integration, and advocacy support.
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We advise international organizations, NGOs, global health partners, and implementation partners working to strengthen maternal-newborn, perinatal, and midwifery systems across diverse cultural, linguistic, and institutional contexts.
This may include policy and strategy support, midwifery systems development, service design, program planning, implementation support, cross-cultural advisory work, and learning or adaptation frameworks.
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Civitas can support funders and philanthropic partners with landscape reviews, investment frameworks, funding strategy, proposal review, implementation risk analysis, learning questions, partner alignment, and decision-support materials.
We help funders understand the systems conditions required for maternal-newborn, perinatal, reproductive, and midwifery investments to be practical, equitable, and sustainable.
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Civitas works across jurisdictions, supporting clients in Canada and internationally to strengthen maternal-newborn, perinatal, and midwifery systems.
Our work is especially relevant where clients need to navigate differences in policy, governance, funding, workforce, service delivery, culture, language, geography, and implementation context.
Civitas brings experience across provincial and federal health policy, rural and remote maternity care, Indigenous maternal health systems, and international maternal health contexts. We support partners to translate broad goals into practical strategies, programs, and implementation pathways that reflect local realities.
“Laya brings both practical expertise and a thoughtful understanding of the broader systems that shape Indigenous maternal and newborn care. She has a way of helping people think more deeply about the work while always keeping communities and relationships at the centre.
Her work reflects a deep commitment to strengthening Indigenous-led approaches to maternal and newborn care. She brings care, humility, and thoughtfulness to everything she does, creating space for conversations that are grounded in respect, relationship, and a genuine desire to support meaningful change.”
- Nicole MacDonald, CEO, Indigenous Philanthropy Advisors
Experience That Shapes the Work
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Provincial and federal maternal-newborn and Indigenous health policy
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Rural and remote maternity care and birth away from home
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Indigenous midwifery systems, funding strategy, and policy support
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International maternal health contexts
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Graduate-level teaching on Indigenous health, jurisdiction, policy, and health systems leadership
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Research, reports, scans, and synthesis to support planning and decision-making
We Are Often Brought In When Clients Need To
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You may know something needs to change, but need help understanding the system, identifying priorities, and defining a clear path forward.
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You may be working across multiple organizations, communities, disciplines, or decision-making tables and need support building shared understanding and direction.
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You may need a maternal-newborn, perinatal, or midwifery strategy that is evidence-informed, context-specific, and realistic to implement.
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You may need help turning research, data, consultations, clinical realities, or community priorities into policies, programs, funding asks, or implementation plans.
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You may have a strategy or recommendation and need support turning it into practical next steps, tools, decisions, timelines, and coordinated action.
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You may need to understand what is working, what needs to change, and how to adapt programs, strategies, or implementation plans over time.
Speaking, Teaching & Facilitation
Laya is available for select speaking, teaching, facilitation, and panel opportunities related to maternal-newborn and perinatal systems, midwifery systems, Indigenous maternal health systems work, health policy, cultural safety, rural and remote maternity care, and translating strategy into implementation.
Potential topics include:
• Midwifery systems are health systems
• Translating between care and policy
• From strategy to implementation in maternal-newborn systems
• Supporting Indigenous-led maternal health systems work
• Rural and remote maternity care and birth away from home
• Cultural safety, role clarity, and health systems responsibility
• Policy, governance, and implementation in perinatal health systems
Civitas works best with clients who value thoughtful process, honest analysis, respectful relationships, and practical solutions.
A Collaborative Approach
Our role is not to arrive with a pre-set answer. We work with each client’s context, priorities, relationships, and constraints to develop approaches that are grounded, useful, and built for implementation.
We bring clinical insight, policy and program experience, systems thinking, and strategic facilitation to help clients move through complexity with clarity and purpose.
Let’s connect the people, policies, programs, and decisions that shape care.
If you are working to strengthen maternal-newborn, perinatal, or midwifery systems, Civitas can help clarify the path forward and support meaningful, sustainable action.