The Four Worlds Development Project is a service oriented, technical assistance project attached to the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge and dedicated to the goal of eliminating alcohol and drug abuse in Canadian Native societies by the year 2000. With the guidance of native elders, spiritual leaders, and the best modern science has to offer about human development, the Project is prepared to work in partnership with native communities. This overview discusses the fundamental principles of existence, of human nature and purpose, and of human growth and well being upon which the Project is guided. The document outlines 19 contemporary research areas contributing to the promotion of wholistic human development. A section summarizes accomplishments in the development of a framework, process, content, and context for a comprehensive education plan. Another section outlines stop-gap measures that communities can initiate immediately to retard the rate of personal and social disintegration until the effects of the Project begin to be felt. Another section lists basic objectives of the first 5 years of the Four World Development Project. The document concludes with an invitation for native community participation. (NEC)