The West African Alcohol Policy Alliance (WAAPA) successfully held its 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) over a three-day period, bringing together national alliances and partner to reflect on progress, share experiences and plan the way forward in alcohol policy advocacy and legislation implementations in West Africa and beyond.
The meeting served as a vital platform for member countries to present updates on their national level interventions, policy progress and advocacy strategies. GhanAPA was represented by the National Chairman and Coordinator in the persons of Alhaji Sulley Sumani and Mr. Benjamin Anabila respectively.
The AGM saw to light the formal adoption of three important policy documents namely:
Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEAH) Policy Gender and Diversity Policy
Non-Engagement Policy and Declaration of Affiliation Policy
These policies reinforce WAAPA’s commitment to integrity, transparency and inclusivity in all aspects of its operations.
The meeting also included a robust discussion on the independence of National Alcohol Policy Alliances (NAPAs). It was clarified that though we run independently in our respective countries as NAPAs, our autonomy ends at the point of WAAPA membership, meaning we are not autonomous in the context of the regional alliance. This reaffirmed WAAPA’s position as a unified regional body with coordination governance, while still recognizing national efforts under a shared vision.
In addition, the AGM provided a platform to review, discuss and adopted the 2025 Programme of Work (PoW) as aligned with WAAPA’s 5-Year Strategic Plan to ensure alignment with regional priorities and global developments. The PoW focused on strategic objectives with key advocacy and capacity-building actions for the year ahead for both National Alcohol Policy Alliances (NAPA) and the regional body (WAAPA).
Dr Eva Braaten from FORUT, presented on the sustainability of WAAPA using the Organizational Capacity Assessment Process (OCAP) tool. This evaluation helped identify organizational strengths and areas that require reinforcement to ensure long-term impact.
The AGM participants also joined the FORUT webinar titled “The Norwegian Oil Fund: Pursuing Profit at the Expense of Public Health?” which included the launch of a new report on the fund’s invested into harmful industries. This webinar deepened members’ understanding of global economic forces undermining public health efforts and reinforced the importance of independent, health-focused alcohol policies in the region.
To support national alliances in conducting policy reviews and advocating for stronger, evidence-based National Alcohol Policies and Legislations in the region, we were also trained on the ADD Scales, a standardized tool used to measure the quality and comprehensiveness of National Alcohol Policies and Legislations.
GhanAPA remains committed to protecting public health and reduce alcohol-related harm in Ghana.