CBDM Consensus-Based Decision Making
CAR Conference Agenda Report
ECCNA European Conference and Convention of NA
EDM European Delegates Meeting
ESLD European Service Learning Days
FDC Fellowship Development Committee
HRP Human Ressource Pool
RD Regional Delegate
RSC Regional Service Conference
SSP Service System Proposal
TEAM Together Everyone Achieves More
TT Task Team
WB World Board
WSC World Service Conference
WSO World Service Office

The EDM does not have a service office as such. Our legal association is based in Brussels and our address is the same as WSO-Europe. The one part-time staff person who works for WSO there has kindly assisted us with all our needs for the legal association. WSO-Europe also serves all our communities with literature.

Any member can visit the EDM, but not any member can participate. Just Delegates, and Alternates elected by individual NA communities, regardless of the level of local service structure, can participate (Attendance, right to speak, take part in Consensus process and vote).
Sub-Committees, invited members from World Services and Zonal Forums can attend but only speak upon request from the floor.
All other people attending are not allowed to participate. This can be deviated from with the discretion of the chairperson and the delegates if a situation occurs that give new information.

Ideally, all EDM communities will be able to attend all EDM meetings. In practice, we may not always have the resources for this to be possible. This means that communities who are funded to attend the EDM may only receive funding to attend one EDM each year. When appropriate, priority will be given to funding FD activity over funding attendance to the EDM. For further information please contact the Steering Committee. When appropriate, priority will be given to funding FD activity over funding attendance to the EDM: contact@edmna.org

The EDM is conducted in English, so when possible communities select delegates who speak English. All participants are reminded that some members may be self-translating or using translation, so they should speak slowly and clearly, avoiding any colloquial terms. Any delegate can ask for clarification at any time during the EDM.

Conference participants speak 28 official languages:
Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Farsi, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish.

Any NA member. We suggest a nomination from your region. Nominations will be made by EDM delegates or by nominees themselves whenever a position is up for rotation, either at the summer or winter EDM. All candidates will send a service CV to the Steering Committee by the first morning of the EDM. Attendance is not essential for nominees.

All elections will be conducted by a closed paper vote. Only Regional Delegates have the right to vote. A simple majority of all votes is required to be elected as Trusted Servants at EDM (50 percent +1).

EDM Orientation Pack

As we do have not enough time to deal with all the issues that are coming up during a conference, we create Workgroups, FD & PR Task Teams, and Webinars. We meet online in between conferences, to improve or develop projects. Delegates nominate themselves to attend these workgroups. Task Teams are created based on needs by the Fellowship Development Committee. Each Workgroup and Task Team present their outcome in a report at the conference.

A Workgroup is a human resource-based tool that is arranged during the EDM. The purpose is to support the delegates each time a subject requires to be developed more or, in specific areas of planning and implementation, by providing input, volunteers, and assistance.

A Workgroup may consist (depending on the task) of Regional Delegates and Alternates, Zonal Delegates, members of the Steering Committee, any other EDM Committee Chair and Vice-chair, and former Regional Delegates and Alternates (until two years after their service term).

A Workgroup is not responsible for making a final decision – they gather information and possibly offer suggestions, but it is ultimately up to the body to make a final decision.

EDM is financed by regional donations and the surplus from the annual European convention (ECCNA).

The Winter EDM bidding process is open to proposals from community’s who attend the EDM and would like to hold the winter meeting. Bids are to be presented in writing within the deadline set by the body.

The Bid should be presented in writing, containing the following information (overview):

• Dates available to hold the meeting from the end of January to the middle of March.
• Accommodation – A hotel in the city that can house the delegates.
• Meeting room space that is either in the hotel proposed or within walking distance from the hotel.
• The meeting space requirements are to seat up to 60 delegates in a boardroom-style setup.
• Access to host town (Plane, train, car)
• Information on visa requirements and costs
• Reasons why the Area/Region wants to host the Winter EDM. For further information please contact your regional delegate.
  In our EDM Orientation Pack (PDF, 411 kB), you can find our complete guidelines for hosting Winter EDM.

The EDM is one of the 14 Zonal Forums. Zonal Forums are designed to improve communication between RSCs and serve as focal points for fellowship development within these communities. They are not decision-making entities. Zonal forums provide an important opportunity for World Services and the World Board to interact with newer and growing NA communities to better understand their needs and challenges.
The EDM as a Zonal forum actively participates in “Fellowship Development”, esp. in the remote parts of NA communities in Eastern Europe, so they have grown significantly through the work of this Zonal Forum.

The World Service Office (WSO), our main service center, handles the production of all approved literature, provides resources for projects approved by the WSC, and also provides limited services to the fellowship as a whole. The office also administers the legal responsibilities of the fellowship concerning copyrights, intellectual property, and accounting, and maintains the archives and files of Narcotics Anonymous.

The main World Service Office is based in Chatsworth (Los Angeles), California. There are also offices in Brussels (Europe) and Teheran (Iran). All offices are run by paid special workers. WSO also runs distribution centers in Ontario (Canada) and Bangladore (India).

Postal Address:
WSO—Chatsworth, 19737 Nordhoff Place, Chatsworth, California, 91311 USA

You will find more information about the Literature process on our EDM Blog: Literature Translation Process

The final part of our service structure is the World Service Conference (WSC). Our conference is the one time and place where all of our world services come together. Unlike all other service bodies of NA service, the conference is not an entity, it is an event—the coming together. Every three years, regional delegates, the members of the World Board, and the executive director of the World Service Office meet to discuss questions of significance to the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous as a whole. The purpose of the World Service Conference is to be supportive of the Fellowship as a whole and to define and take action according to the group conscience of Narcotics Anonymous.

The WSC through the World Board is responsible for the NA World Service Office located in the Chatsworth, neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.

World Service Conference 2018 Room

The purpose of the World Board (WB) of Narcotics Anonymous World Services, is to contribute to the continuation and growth of Narcotics Anonymous. The Board serves as a primary resource for the NA Fellowship by providing the support needed to carry our message while ensuring that the service and support provided are of the highest quality possible. The World Board manages all activities of World Services including oversight of the operations of the Fellowship’s primary service center, the World Service Office.

There are 18 seats for World Board members, of which are 16 filled. World Board members get elected at the World Service Conference by seated regional delegates. The term is 6 years, with the possibility to get reelected for one more term.