TOOLS: WHA Engagement Guide 2018

A guide to add value to the engagement process

Some may argue that the World Health Assembly (WHA) and World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board are best experienced in-person and that knowledge around it is best passed on by word of mouth. However, we believe that a written guide can add value to the engagement process and to their institutional memory.

What this guide is and is not

This guide is for civil society stakeholders seeking to engage with the WHA and WHO Executive Board. It details the rules and procedures, the schedules and protocols, the practices and precedents. It is not about what is discussed or considered, nor is it a legal document. This guide compiles relevant provisions from the WHO Constitution, WHA Rules of Procedure, the mandates scattered throughout resolutions, and decisions as well as lessons learned from previous attendees.

Though the guide aims to be as comprehensive as possible, we acknowledge it prioritizes information relevant to the work of civil society and it leaves out information considered by the authors to be too detailed. It should also be noted, sections of the guide assume the reader is in “official relations” with the WHO, as engaging with the WHA and WHO Executive Board without proper accreditation is very difficult.