• Vision
• Mission
• Goal
• Structure
  • WABA Secretariat
  • WABA Assembly
    • Steering Committee
    • Core Partners
    • Regional Focal Points
    • Task Forces
    • Advisory Council
  • Country Contact
    • Guidelines for National Breastfeeding Alliances
  • WABA Endorsers or Participants
    • Endorsement Form
• Actions

Vision

The vision is a world where breastfeeding is the cultural norm, where mothers and famlies are enabled to feed and care optimally for their infants and young childree thus contributing to a just and healthy society.

Mission

The mission is to protect, promote and support breastfeeding worldwide in the frame work of the Innocenti Declarations (1990 and 2005) and the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding through networking and facilitating collaborative efforts in social mobilization, advocaacy, information dissemination and capacity building.

Goal

To foster a strong and cohesive breastfeeding movement, which will act on the various international instruments to create an enabling environment for mothers, thus contributing to increasing optimal breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding practices.

Structure

WABA is a global network that encompasses all working at the international, regional, national, and community level to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. 

Everyone who is committed to a breastfeeding culture can be part of WABA: non-governmental organizations, community activists, health care workers, professional associations, university teaching staff, researchers, health officials and others. 

WABA SECRETARIAT

The Secretariat coordinates and maintains the flow of information between the General Assembly structures and the wider constituency of WABA. Its small office serves mainly to network and facilitate action in support of World Breastfeeding Week, and coordinate the other programmes of WABA.  

WABA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The WABA General Assembly consist of: 

• Steering Committee 
• Core Partners
• Regional Focal Points 
• Task Force Coordinators and Co-Coordinators 
• InternationalAdvisory Council

The WABA General Assembly plays a larger role in policy making and has the right to vote on the Steering Committee members.

STEERING COMMITTEE

The Steering Committee is the principal management and policy making body of WABA. 

Felicity Savage, UK, Chairperson
Marta Trejos, Costa Rica, Co-Chair
Raj Anand, India, Co-Chair
Lourdes Fidalgo, Mozambique, Member
Miriam Labbok, USA, Member
Audrey Naylor, USA, Member
Anwar Fazal, Malaysia,(Chairperson Emeritus/Appointed Member)

CORE PARTNERS (current reps)

Core Partners are organisations and networks which work internationally mainly on breastfeeding related issues, and which endorse WABA.

IBFAN 
Pauline Kisanga & Andre Nikiema, Africa
Arun Gupta, Asia-Pacific
Marta Trejos, Latin America & the Caribbean
Lida Lhotska, Europe
Betty Sterken, North America

LLLI
Rebecca Magalhaes, North America
Anne Batterjee, Africa & Middle East
Ivy Makelin, Asia-Pacific
Veronica Garea, Latin America & the Caribbean
Juanita Jauer Steichen, Europe

ILCA
Sallie Page, North America
Angela Smith, Asia-Pacific
Maryse Lehners, Europe

WELLSTART INTERNATIONAL
Veronica Gomez, Africa
Dure Akram, Asia-Pacific
Veronica Valdes, Latin America & the Caribbean
Ketevan Nemsadze Europe
Vicki Nichols-Johnson, North America

ABM
Rachel Musoke, Africa
Tomoko Seo, Asia-Pacific
Jose Gorrin, Latin America & the Caribbean
Elien Rouw, Europe
Miriam Labbok, North America

REGIONAL FOCAL POINTS

Regional Focal Points are institutions or organisations that assist WABA in networking, information support and social mobilisation activities at the regional level. These activities include:

a. communicating, when appropriate, between WABA Secretariat and country contact points and relevant groups and individuals;
b. coordinating WBW and the GLOPAR;
c. translating, adapting and disseminating WBW materials and other appropriate WABA and partner materials;
d. representing WABA at regional level;
e. facilitating the endorsement of WABA;
f. facilitating communication and common actions between WABA endorsers and other breastfeeding related organisations, and
g. facilitating common actions between WABA's core partners, endorsers and allies from the human rights, health, environmental, and women's movements among others.

TASK FORCES

These are the specialised support arms of the WABA network. The Task Forces are: 

• Code Compliance
• Mother Support
• Research
• Women & Work
• Health Care Practices
• Breastfeeding & HIV
• Global Advocacy

Code Compliance

To promote implementation of the International Code of Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes through training, development of legislation, production of materials and monitoring Code compliance. 

Coordinators

Annelies Allain, ICDC/IBFAN Malaysia 
Fernando Vallone, Argentina

Mother Support Groups

To promote linking of mother support groups worldwide; enable them to train counselors and to expand the number of groups; to create the appropriate environment of awareness and support for a mother to initiate and sustain breastfeeding . This task force is working on a Mother-to-Mother Support Practical Guidebook for 1997. 

Coordinators

Paulina Smith ,  Mexico
Rebecca Magalhaes , LLLI, USA 
Prashant Gangal, India

Research

The Research task force activities are: 

• to monitor conferences; 
• to assist in research as part of monitoring, to support efforts by WABA M.D.s and others to force manufactures of breastmilk substitutes to justify their claims, by asking them for research evidence;
• to hold regional research meeting; and 
• to continue disseminating and translating breastfeeding papers of the month.

Coordinator

Ted Greiner, Path, USA

Women and Work

To develop strategies to address the special needs of working women, through imaginative new legislation and other actions that assist women to integrate breastfeeding into their working lives 

The Mother-Friendly Workplace initiative (MFWI) is growing and the task force will continue to develop the programme, including the SIDA seedgrants project for supporting working breastfeeding women. Groups interested in participating are urged to write to the WABA Secretariat for more information. 

Coordinators

Chris Mulford , USA 
Ines Fernandez, ARUGAAN, Philippines
Elaine Cote, Switzerland

Health Care Practices

To promote health care practices in hospitals and in the community that protect, promote and support breastfeeding according to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Statement on the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. 

This task force will link with various organisations like BAMBI (Childbirth/Breastfeeding Foundation ), WEDO (Women Environment and Development Organisation) and ICM (International Confederation of Midwives), among others. 

Coordinators

Rae Davies, CIMS, USA
Nomajoni Ntombela, South Africa

Breastfeeding and HIV

To monitor and disseminate research and developments relating to HIV and to advocate breastfeeding for the benefit of mothers, their babies, infant feeding counsellors and health professionals

Coordinators

Pamela Morrison , UK
Mary Katepa - Bwalya, Zambia
Penny Van Esterik, Canada

Global Advocacy

To advocate on critical, urgent and emerging issues and to reach out to other stakeholders in order to promote the objectives of the GSIYCF, Innocenti Declarations and MDGs.

Coordinator

Beth Styer, USA

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL (IAC)

(country stated is current domicile)

1. Michael Latham ( USA ) - IAC co-chair
2. Elisabet Helsing ( Norway ) - IAC co-chair
3. Virginia Thorley ( Australia )
4. Prof Talukder ( Bangladesh )
5. Zafrullah Chowdhury (Bangladesh)
6. Cesar Victora (Brazil)
7. Marina Rea (Brazil)
8. Jairo Osorno (Colombia)
9. Leonardo Mata (Costa Rica)
10. Charles Sagoe Moses (Ghana)
11. Pamela Chan (Hong Kong)
12. Kamla Bhasin (India)
13. Armida Fernandez (India)
14. Erna Witoelar ( Indonesia )
15. Song Vokyung ( Korea )
16. Urban Jonsson (Laos)
17. Anne Devereux (New Zealand)
18. Maria Zuniga (Nicaragua)
19. Thandabantu Nhlapo (South Africa)
20. Ann Marie Widstrom ( Sweden )
21. Roger Shrimpton (Switzerland)
22. Jean-Pierre Allain (Thailand)
23. Margaret Kyenkya-Isabirye (Uganda)
24. Richard Jolly (UK)
25. Mary Renfrew ( UK )
26. Anthony Costello ( UK )
27. Naomi Baumslag ( USA )
28. David Korten (USA)
29. Marian Tompson (USA)
30. Sharyle Patton (USA)
31. Meera Shekar (USA)
32. David Clark (USA)
33. Rufaro Madzima ( Zimbabwe )

Country Contact

Country Contacts are basic for WABA, many of whom are already linked to WABA core partners. They are individuals and organisations who are committed to an open and inclusive process involving inidividuals and organisations who protect, promote and support breastfeeding ; and who want to play an active role in WABA.

WABA aims to have as many as possible country contacts. No one organisation or indivitual is necessarily the exclusive representative of WABA in any given country. They

a. abide by WABA' principles as stated in the Endorsement Form;
b. act as distribution centres and facilitators for WABA activities in the country.
c. will be identified through a consultative process in coordination with Regional Focal Points and Core Partners, especially in large countries to enable more efficient communication.

WABA recognises the importance of National Breastfeeding Alliances and to encourage their development as country contacts. (See below Guidelines on Forming National Breastfeeding Alliances). National groups are advised to inform the WABA Secretariat of their intention to form a National Breastfeeding Alliance and to act as a WABA Country Contact.

Guidelines for National Breastfeeding Alliances

WABA advocates alliance building among all supporters of breastfeeding. The initiator of a national network affiliated to WABA should be committed to an open and inclusive process involving all individuals and organisations who protect, promote and support breastfeeding. 

There can be more than one WABA country contact, to enable more efficient communication. No one organisation or individual is the only representative of the WABA network in a given country. It may be desirable to have several contact persons, identified thorough a consultative process, especially in large countries. 

All members of a national breastfeeding alliance affiliated to WABA must abide by the principles stated in the WABA Endorsement Form. 

National Alliances for Breastfeeding should not use name WABA, but other names (e.g. the Malaysia Alliance for Breastfeeding Action - MABA) and have their own structure and autonomy. They will be known as WABA Country Contacts.

WABA Endorsers or Participants

To become a WABA participant, an Organisation or individual should fill the WABA endorsement form and return a copy to the WABA Secretariat. This will ensure that you are on WABA's regular mailing list. As an endorser, you have a right to nominate Steering Committee members.