Our “CATI and SMS Surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa” webinar video and slides are now available to watch!  Our excellent speakers, John Murunga (GeoPoll, Kenya) and Charles Lau from (GeoPoll, USA) described the design, implementation, and best practices for conducting CATI and SMS surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa. The webinar was moderated by the WAPOR Education Committee Chair Chase Harrison (Harvard University, USA) and Committee Member Alhi Nguessan (EMC, Côte d’Ivoire).

In my President’s Letter this April, I gave an account of our ExCo-SSA and ExCo-LATAM Meetings. Now that we have completed our latest round of meetings with all Regional Chapters, let me give a brief account of our meetings with WANA and WAP.

The two meetings happened on May 28 and June 18 respectively, and both meetings were expanded to include non-ExCo colleagues. Many new ideas have come out of these meetings, including WANA launching a membership drive before our Seoul Conference, WAP starting to promote its 2025 Tokyo Conference, and both Chapters setting up booths and/or membership corners in Seoul to attract members.

WANA is a young Chapter recently reconstituted, it is setting plans to run webinars and hopefully a regional conference in a year or two. Its leadership is learning fast from other Chapters, and practically all Council colleagues attending the meeting have offered to help. Arising from this meeting, a bulkmail has been sent to all WAPOR members on June 17 to promote the Chapter. In that bulkmail, we see keywords like “political reforms”, “social and cultural changes”, “conflicts and security”, “national identity”, “educational reform”, “environmental sustainability”, “gender equality” and so on, together with geographical terms like “Middle East”, “Gulf States”, “MENA” and “WANA”. There is little doubt that any study of or for humanity cannot neglect our WANA Chapter.

Our WAP Chapter, on the other hand, is much more matured and active. It is already creating history by co-organizing our first ever Joint Global-Chapter WAPOR Conference. “Joint” in the sense of total integration and collaboration, not just running events back-to-back. There are many big challenges like setting a uniform conference registration fee riding on different membership fees, coordinating local and global sponsorships, organizing joint banquets and business meetings, and full integration of participation and presentations. These challenges can only be overcome when there is complete trust among all organizers, and I am glad to say that this has been the case. I am sure that our Seoul Conference will become a model operation for future global-regional joint conferences […].

WAPOR Latin America, the regional chapter of the World Association for Public Opinion Research which brings together specialists in research on public opinion, communication and political behavior, will meet in the beautiful city of Florianópolis, southern Brazil, on occasion of its XI Congress, which will be an exclusively onsite event.

During three days, from April 28 to 30, 2025, scholars, consultants, pollsters, professionals from private market and public opinion research agencies and specialists in the areas of social and political communication who focus in Latin America will meet at the premises of UFSC (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina) for insightful exchanges of ideas, knowledge and experiences.

National Representatives at WAPOR serve an important role within the organization promoting the mission of WAPOR in their countries and facilitating advancement of public opinion research domain worldwide. They encourage professional colleagues and students to consider WAPOR membership and participation. National Representatives participate in WAPOR’s Freedom Survey conducted every 5 years that serves as the basis for the ESOMAR-WAPOR Freedom in the World Report. National Representatives also provide a brief annual report and current advice as needed to WAPOR regarding polling-related issues within my county/region including, but not limited to, threats to the freedoms to conduct and publish opinion polls, as well as general trends in the opinion research business. 

WAPOR announces an open call for nominations for the position of WAPOR National Representatives for 2024-2025 in the following countries/ territories: Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Burundi, Congo, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Iceland, Ireland, Kosovo, Liberia, Madagascar, Malta, Mozambique, Namibia, Norway, Oman, Taiwan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.  

Dear WAPOR members,

WAPOR invites expressions of interest to expand the following our Committees:

• Finance Committee: 1 member

• Membership Committee: 2 members

The period of service shall be 2024, with the possibility to prolong for another year.

To learn more about the activities of the WAPOR committees, please, consult the WAPOR Constitution: https://wapor.org/about-wapor/constitution/ 

To learn about the committee chairs and other members, please, check the WAPOR website: https://wapor.org/about-wapor/committees/

WAPOR Committees are important bodies that both facilitate and guide the development of the Association. We very much look forward to welcoming new members aboard the WAPOR Committees!