Global Council - Summary of Results

The following is a summary of the results of the Humanity's Team Global Council meeting held in Buenos Aires, Argentina May 18-23, 2008. Thanks to Denis Rosendahl-Huber (Country Coordinator for The Netherlands) and Claudia Christine Pieper (Country Coordinator for Germany) for compiling this document.

1. Awareness in (internal) communication. What do I want to communicate, where do I communicate, how do I communicate? The Google-docs are great, but as these are one-way, it is difficult to get or give input/feedback.

• Intention is set to find a way to have a better tool for 2-way communication within HT Global Council.
• One solution to having a two way conversation is to have the task forces do occasional conference calls.

2. Awareness in external communication. How do we create globally effective communication?

• Translation of Worldwide Content Task Force. This Task Force is to define guidelines for creating source-text for external communication that is easier to translate linguistically and culturally. Keep abbreviations, slang, local/cultural idioms and fancy phraseology out of the basic text. Make notes where “feeling” is included. In the final, local versions the text may be embellished, reinforced.

• Create a reference-vocabulary of frequent “US-English untranslateables" or words we are used to, but which pose translation problems. [Example: "oneness" vs "unity"].

• Create a reference-list for abbreviations that we use frequently in internal communication.

3. Cultural Diversity Declaration – all Global Council Members present in Buenos Aires support this, committed to increasing and implementing their awareness of cultural diversity in all it forms and the corresponding importance of embracing inclusiveness.

4. Country & other cooordinators to own the projects they take on. To own means to take responsibility. This lifts the burden off the initiator & stimulates effectiveness and involvement from all countries in projects that are adopted as global initiatives.

• Countries to implement agreed global initiatives, wherever possible and allowing for local adaptation.

5. Functional Teams are initiated by the WW Support Team. These teams for pursuing key operational efforts have an initiating, coordinating and long term strategic function.

6. Task Forces help bring projects more input & support from around the world. Task Forces are for specific - mostly short-term projects - and help in decentralizing workload, allowing for more participation & involvement of Global Council Members with the strategic piece, also bundling expertise and information where it is most efficient.

7. Task Forces focused on implementation are open to Teammates. That is where the work moves from the strategic piece to the implementation. Appointed Global Council members will interview Teammates who wish to join a Task Force. This is to provide a clear understanding of the goals and the way HT works.

8. Abundance initiative – Unfortunately the previous Abundance Coordinator did not bring results. Support from the Group of 1000 has fallen away. As decided in Portugal the local teams will be self-supporting, developing their own abundance initiatives. The global team will seek to provide for its own abundance, although support is welcome.

9. This year the focus is on Spiritual Activism. The new Spiritual Activism page on global website and preferrably country's websites to attract more involvement and opportunities for Teammates and site-visitors. Reflects who we are.

• The Spiritual Activism Initative (SAI) is focused on creating excellent programs at both country and global level. Local initiatives to be brought to the global level and global-level initiatives to be adopted and/or adapted by the countries.

10. UN World Unity Day petition initiative – The Council expresses their support for the initiative, members are invited to join Anna-Mari's adaptation of the Kevin Reid initiative. See also Spiritual Activism Task Force below. Possibility to open up to non-English speaking individuals will be researched. In principle all countries support the initiative and look for ways to support it.

11. Global Website is to be truly "global" – avoid US (or other!) bias. Use “easy” English. Spanish translation is needed as this is the 2nd world language. Create easy linking to localized websites, not only on homepage, but also to link to local implementations of Spiritual Activism.

• Spiritual Activism Full Roll-out Task Force – this Task Force focuses on bringing local versions of the Global Spiritual Activism web-pages to the countries' own websites. The global website will focus (though not limit) itself on global outreach, the country websites are intended to offer the most effective local outreach as well as link to the global activism effort. Initial task had been to help shape an internationalized Activism-page on the Global Website, especially for the “Blessing Emails”, however this appeared to be technically too complex. Good example on how a Task Force can be efficient and can evolve & adapt itself quickly with new insights!

12. Website templates & services are or will soon be available at a low-cost for countries wishing to link to the available framework and style on the Global website, as stated in the offer by Ursa Minor, thanks to Chip Cooper. The offer includes web-hosting and integrated use of the global teammate database.

13. Celebration of Life initiative is now being opened up to allow for adaptation to local needs and responsiveness to themes of the day. Local (country) coordinators are invited to help with the intake conversation-process. Especially creating awareness in facilitators for their responsibilities remains important as CoL is adopted as a key nurturing event for HT worldwide to experience Oneness.

• CoL is seen as a free program that has a viral effect, similar to the Alchoholics Anonymous model. An ever growing program that is self-sufficient, where people know where to find it and what the culture will be.

• Training will be optional – a free toolkit, available after the intake – will be created. Potential: free web-based training & more extensive fee-based training for those wanting to move further.

• The Functional Team for Education & Inner work will focus on developing CoL. Other education modalities like study and support groups are certainly NOT to be discontinued or discouraged, but for this moment no active global support is possible. Where a format is working (also the original CoL format) this should be preserved. The material however will now be re-created in a way to allow for other formats.

• Input on the format by the end of June is to be forwarded from Country Coordinators after consulting with their countries' Teammates.

• The team welcomes new members to implement the desired changes.

14. Starting up Alliances with other like-minded, like-oriented initiatives and movements on a global level. Countries are invited to do the same locally. The aim is not merging but reinforcing the total outreach and effect. The UN World Unity Day petition is an example.

15. Global Council Meeting 2009 to be held in South Africa in the April-May 2009 timeframe.

16. Global Council host 2010 to be decided on in the next 3-4 months. Gerry and Maria offer to host it in New York State. Other Country Coordinators interested in hosting the meeting will be invited through the GC Yahoo!group.

17. Nurturing newcomers in Global Council Task Force – this permanent Task Force will guide and assist new Global Council Members by introducing them to the tools and ways we work around the year as well as prepare them for the meetings.

18. Starting a task force to define the policy for bringing in new Worldwide Support Teammates as well as setting up guidelines for accountability. This accountability will determine how long someone will remain on the team. These guidelines are seen to be brought throughout the movement for defining accountability in all governance seats.