From assessment to action: Implementing WBTi to strengthen national breastfeeding policies

Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of breastfeeding programmes and policies is essential for driving national action on protecting and supporting breastfeeding. Countries need to regularly assess their breastfeeding programmes and policies and develop plans to address any identified gaps.

The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) provides a framework for countries to assess and improve breastfeeding policies. Research has shown that countries that have repeatedly conducted assessments using the WBTi model show measurable improvements in policy implementation, funding allocation, and breastfeeding rates. While 100 countries have used WBTi tools since 2005, only 6% have conducted an assessment in the past five years. The Global Breastfeeding Collective aims for 75% of countries to conduct policy assessments by 2030, making this webinar timely and necessary. This webinar addresses the need to expand WBTi implementation globally and build capacity for translating assessment findings into effective action plans.

The webinar aims to increase the number of countries conducting regular WBTi assessments and enhance the capacity of national partners to translate assessment findings into concrete, actionable strategies that strengthen breastfeeding protection, promotion, and support systems. The webinar will equip participants with the knowledge, tools, and strategies they need to conduct WBTi assessments and develop data-driven action plans. By the end of the session, participants will:

15:00 – 15:10: Welcome and opening remarks

15:10 – 15:20: Setting the scene and Global Breastfeeding Scorecard presentation

15:20 – 15:35: WBTi processes methodology

15:35 – 16:15: Panel discussion and country experiences from the Gambia, Bangladesh, Croatia and El Salvador

16:15 – 16:25: Questions and answers

16:25 – 16:30: Closing remarks

The recording includes Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish interpretation.