NA WORLD SERVICE NEWS
GREETINGS FROM YOUR WORLD BOARD What a way to end the last World Service Conference of this century! It was great to see everyone and we would like to thank all of the participants for contributing their time and effort to make WSC 1999 such a successful conference. With 21 DF participants and the zonal reports being included as an agenda item (a first!), this particular conference definitely had the feel of being representative of our worldwide fellowship. We, the World Board, would like once again to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of the fellowship for giving us the opportunity to serve you and for the trust you have placed in us. In this issue of NAWS News,
you will find a list of the motions that were passed and committed at the
WSC, as well as other pertinent information about our upcoming projects
and events. There will be another issue of NAWS News after our June
meeting as well as additional information from the conference.
Although we will report on the conference in more detail in the NA World Services Summary, there are a few things that we would like to mention here. This was a new conference for all of us—with new systems, a new structure, and a shorter conference week. The evaluations that participants returned were positive but we, along with other conference participants, felt the frustration of trying to do so many things, in addition to many new things, in such a short period of time. We tried to cover all of the information from the Annual Report, the March Conference Report, as well as our experience of this past year and all of the activity of world services in one short day. We also planned more small group discussions than the conference has had for many years. We will pay close attention to the evaluation results when we plan next year’s conference but would also ask that conference participants provide us with any ideas that they have as soon as possible. At the end of this sometimes difficult week, the conference supported all of our proposals for the second year of our transition. We thank you for that and acknowledge that it will be a busy year! We met as a board four times during the conference week. The most valuable part of those meetings was the opportunity to hear thoughts and input from participants in a smaller setting than the conference floor. We were able to end our conference week with input from many of the Development Forum participants. All of the input that we received will make for more effective planning of next year’s conference and for the work that we have before us this year. The one item that we heard in our open forum sessions, from DF participants, and in the evaluations was that the small group discussions were helpful and should be used whenever possible. Return to
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September
24 – 26, 1999
The World Service Meeting and World Unity Day 1999 will be held at the Clarion Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. The dates and times are Friday, September 24 at 9 AM through Sunday, September 26 at approximately 2 PM. The World Board will also meet in this location on Thursday, September 23. We will celebrate World Unity Day on Saturday, September 25 and plan to adjourn the World Service Meeting in time for participants to attend the banquet and meeting, if they choose. Please see the enclosed flyer for more information about World Unity Day. Our travel agency, Montrose Travel, has contracted discount flights with American and Delta Airlines. We would like to encourage you to give this opportunity serious consideration, both for your benefit and world services. To be able to receive the discount—up to 10% that can mean $25–$60 off each ticket purchased—you should book your travel at least sixty (60) days prior to departure. The number for booking these flights is (800) 301-9673. Hotel rooms will be available at the Clarion Hotel, 4000 Ocean Drive, Hollywood, Florida. When making your reservations at the hotel or the airlines, mention NA World Services. There will be recovery meetings and workshops throughout the day with a buffet banquet that evening starting at 6 PM. The Unity Day Speaker Meeting will begin at 8 PM with a dance following. Rooms start at $75.00 per night plus tax for a total of $83.25. For reservations, please call (800) 329-9019 or (954) 458-1900. You may call the WSO for further information at (818) 773-9999, extension 202. If you need help obtaining a roommate, call extension 115. Return to
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The following is an abbreviated list of the motions that were adopted at the WSC 1999: • “To adopt the WSC 1999 Election Procedures and Challenges to Nominations.” • “To seat the ABCD Region as a participant.” (New York) • “To seat the Finland Region as a participant.” • “To seat the NERF Region as a participant.” (Northeast India) • “To select two issue discussion topics from the following list for discussion at the 2000 World Service Conference: Ballot tabulation resulted in selection of I and J as the issues for discussion at WSC 2000. Issue discussion papers on these topics will appear in the CAR 2000. I. What action do we, as a fellowship, need to take to retain our experienced members with substantial clean time? J. What is NA’s definition of abstinence? How does this definition apply to our members who need medication in recovery?” • “That NA World Services publish the Conference Agenda Report a minimum of 180 days prior to the World Service Conference. Further, that translations as currently done to German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Swedish be completed prior to the release on that date. This policy to take effect in conjunction with the 2 year conference cycle.” • “That regions be allowed up to 150 words to describe the reasoning behind and consequences of their regional motions in the Conference Agenda Report.” • “To have a space on the agenda for zonal forum report sessions at all future WSCs.” • “To delete the following language ‘if the World Board is not presenting any proposals for action by the conference, no report from the World Board will be included in the Conference Agenda Report.” (The language was meant to be deleted from A Temporary Working Guide to our World Service Structure, 1998 edition, but it was not stated in the motion.) • “To provide direction to the World Board for the Motion 21 Project Plan as follows: To include, under the description of the 11th Tradition in the Basic Text and It Works-How and Why, language regarding the application of this tradition to television and the Internet.” • “To approve the proposed changes to the 1999 – 2000 Budget and approve it in its entirety as amended.” The projects included in this budget are the Internal Process and Procedures for the World Board, Communications Task Force, Evaluation of the Literature Distribution System, New Database, History Project, Motion 21, Process for Service Material, Two-Year Conference Cycle, a new Information Management System, a World Service Meeting, and evaluation of the Public Information, Events, and Treasurers handbooks and Training workbooks. Return to
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• “To change in the Narcotics Anonymous White Booklet under the section ‘What is the Narcotics Anonymous Program?’ on page 2, second to last sentence, the language ‘and are under no surveillance at any time’ to ‘and participate in no surveillance at any time.’” • “To direct the World Board to develop a project plan for a guide book for working our 12 Traditions.” • “That the World Board form a working group to explore the issues surrounding recognition of online NA meetings by World Services.” • “That NAWS, Inc. provide an email discussion list for WSC participants that wish to participate. This discussion list will be open for subscriptions and full participation by all WSC participants that wish to take part. Non-conference participants will be able to subscribe to the list as non-participants without posting privileges. All translations will be the responsibility of the list participants.” • “That NAWS, Inc. research the feasibility of using e-mail for communication with those conference participants who request this.” • “That communication from the entities of NAWS, Inc. to the fellowship be written at an 8th grade level, whenever possible.” MOTIONS
COMMITTED
• “That anyone seeking a world services elected position have their nomination and resume turned into the HRP by September 1st.” Motion Commited to the Human Resource Panel with a response by the time of the WSM.” Return to
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The following were informal straw polls conducted of the 110 voting participants present at the WSC. They do not represent a decision by the conference and were conducted only to provide direction. • “As part of their development of the two-year conference cycle, should the World Board develop recommendations regarding consensus-based decision- making at the WSC?” The poll resulted in unanimous consensus agreement. No participants disagreed. • “At least for the time being, should seating on the conference floor be limited to RDs and RDAs (no mentors or 2nd RDAs will be allowed on the floor)?” The poll resulted in broad consensus agreement. 11 participants disagreed. • “As part of the development of the two-year conference cycle, should the World Board develop definite criteria for the seating of regions at the WSC.” The poll resulted in no clear consensus, with 35 participants opposed. • “As part of their development of the two-year conference cycle, should the World Board form an Admissions/Seating Committee that will make recommendations to the WSC based upon agreed criteria.” The poll resulted in no clear consensus, with 25 people opposed. • “Should the World Board continue to gather information from the fellowship regarding Resolution A for the purpose of making further recommendations in the future?” The poll resulted in broad consensus agreement. One person disagreed. • “Should the World Board present options on how to lessen the funding burdens experienced by the regions in order to attend the WSC and other world services meetings?” The poll resulted in unanimous consensus agreement. No one disagreed. The poll on the question of issue discussion papers continuing in the Conference Agenda Report resulted in an overwhelming majority of participants in favor. The poll on the question of the World Board putting reports in the Conference Agenda Report even if they have no motions, resulted in overwhelming support. Return to
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In June, members of the World Board and WSO staff will be attending the first Host Committee meeting for the 28th World Convention to be held in Cartagena, Colombia. We will have more information to report to you after our June meeting. We plan to release a newsletter about the convention later in the summer and will have the convention flyers available sometime in the last quarter of this year. Return to
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With the approval of the
unified budget, we are now proceeding with defining the requirements to
fulfill the items on our project list. We have assigned board members,
world pool members, and WSO staff to the following workgroups. A
tentative timeline and project scope has been established and we will have
our first workgroup meetings prior to our board meeting in June.
We will report on the work of these groups and our other projects throughout
the conference year.
Motion 21
Bob J, Daniel S, Cary S Julie K, Andrea L, Jim B, and Henrik E Mary VanEvery, Michael Lee, Elaine Herman
Claudio L, Craig R, Larry R Susan B, Ron H, Steve R Steve Sigman, Nancy Schenck, Sara Jo Hampton
Lib E, David J, Mary Kay B Mary C-V, Gordon C with additional members brought in for specific topics Becky Meyer, Michael Polin, Kirsten Ioannidis
Jane N, Stephan L, Tony W, and Bella A George Hollahan, Jeff Baker, Donna Smylie
which includes Michael McD, Jon T, Mario T, and Susan C from the WB and George Hollahan and Anthony Edmondson, Executive Co-Directors of the WSO Becky Meyer, Eileen Perez-Evans
NA WAY MAGAZINE Prior to the conference, the NA Way Magazine Editorial Board sent a letter to all area and regional literature committees and to conference participants asking for their help. This was something that we were able to discuss only briefly at the conference. The NA Way Magazine—our fellowship’s international journal—welcomes articles, stories, and letters from the fellowship. Groups and members worldwide receive this magazine for free and we want all communities to share their experiences. We do receive manuscripts from the fellowship; however, there are many local NA communities that we never hear from. Consequently, the voices of those communities go unheard in the NA Way Magazine. You may not have considered writing for the NA Way Magazine before, but we’d like you to do so. We have a sheet that gives the “themes” of the next year’s issues, some ideas to get you started, and the deadlines for manuscript submissions available to anyone upon request by contacting the WSO. It is also available on our website, www.na.org. LITERATURE SURVEY We are very pleased to report that we received over 1,500 literature surveys as of the end of May. That is more than twice as many as we received prior to the WSC. For those of you who completed a survey, thank you. For those of you who have not, please fill out a survey and send it to us before July 15, 1999. Surveys are available in six languages by contacting the WSO or on our website. It is important to us that we hear what members want to see developed in NA recovery literature over the next five to ten years. Return to
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30 April – 6 May 2000 Deadline for the November Conference Report 15 October 1999 Deadline for Regional
Motions for the
Deadline for Issue Discussion
Papers on
Deadline for Issue Discussion
items for prioritization and fellowship-wide discussion during the 2000-2001
Conference Year
Deadline for the
We try to consider all requests for travel on a quarterly basis. Please let us know as far ahead of time as possible. There is a new form to be used when making these requests that will assist us in our planning. In fellowship,
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