Start of the Institute Process

In its message of 26 December 1995 to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors the Universal House of Justice announced that a Four Year Plan would be rolled out at Ridván.

• See as well the Ridván Message 153

  As the term "institute" has assumed various uses in the Bahá'í community, a word of clarification is needed. The next four years will represent an extraordinary period in the history of our Faith, a turning point of epochal magnitude. What the friends throughout the world are now being asked to do is to commit themselves, their material resources, their abilities and their time to the development of a network of training institutes on a scale never before attempted. These centres of Bahá'í learning will have as their goal one very practical outcome, namely, the raising up of large numbers of believers who are trained to foster and facilitate the process of entry by troops with efficiency and love.

The Universal House of Justice made further clarifications on the subject of Training Institutes in the message addressed to the Bahá'ís of the World as well as in the regional messages. It placed the establishment and development of training institutes in the context of the far-reaching changes that would characterize the progress of the Faith in this period of Bahá'í history.
"What the friends throughout the world are now being asked to do is to commit themselves, their material resources, their abilities and their time to the development of a network of training institutes on a scale never before attempted. These centers of Bahá'í learning will have as their goal one very practical outcome, namely, the raising up of large numbers of believers who are trained to foster and facilitate the process of entry by troops with efficiency and love." [Message from the Universal House of Justice Ridván 153, Training Institutes and Systematic Growth (Feb 2000), Mess86-01p489-490 para27-para30]
• Also see [Extracts from Messages re training institutes]

Further, in its message of 26 November 1999 it stated that "An impressive network of training institutes on a scale but dimly imagined at the start of the Plan has been established throughout the world. These nascent centres of learning have made significant strides in developing formal programmes and in putting into place effective systems for the delivery of courses. Reports indicate that the number of believers benefiting directly from training courses has climbed to nearly 100,000." [Message 26 November, 1999]

The Administrative Order was further developed by the Universal House of Justice in its message to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counselors of 9 January 2001 in which the concept of the "cluster" was first introduced. The cluster, a subdivision of the region, is to be formed on the basis of cultural, language, pattern of transport, infrastructure or the social life of the inhabitants.
• In its message of 12 December 2011 the Universal House of Justice stated that the cluster should have three coordinators appointed by the Training Institute, one concerned with study circles, junior youth groups and a third for children's classes.
• National Assemblies worldwide divided their countries into clusters on the basis of demographic, geographic, and socio-economic factors. A third of the resulting 15,000 clusters were in Africa.
• TP176 says that there are now (17 January 2003) close to 17,000 clusters worldwide, excluding those countries where, for one reason or another, the operation of the Faith is restricted. The number of clusters per country varies widely—from India with its 1,580 to Singapore, which necessarily sees itself as one cluster. Some of the groupings are sparsely populated areas with only a few thousand inhabitants, while the boundaries of others encompass several million people. For the most part, large urban centers under the jurisdiction of one Local Spiritual Assembly have been designated single clusters, these in turn being divided into sectors, so as to facilitate planning and implementation.

The launch of the First Five Year Plan (2001-2006).
• See The Five Year Plan, 2001-2006 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States
• For the definitive report see The Five Year Plan, 2001-2006 Summary of Achievements and Learning (PDF) published under the supervision of the International Teaching Centre.

The publication of Building Momentum: A Coherent Approach to Growth by the International Teaching Centre at the request of the Universal House of Justice. Because of the cancellation of the 9th International Conference this publication had to be sent to all National Spiritual Assemblies rather than giving a copy to the delegates as had been planned. [BW03-04p35] See also TP367.
• See also the Message from the Universal House of Justice 17 January 2003.

The publication of Impact of Growth on Administration Processes by the International Teaching Centre on behalf of the Universal House of Justice.
• The PDF for Learning to Respond to Emerging New Realities: Messages from the Universal House of Justice can be found here. The document Impact of Growth on Administration Processes is part of that document.
• See also TP397.

The launch of the Second Five Year Plan (2006-2011).
• For the achievements of Plan see The Five Year Plan 2006-2011; Summary of Achievements and Learning, prepared under the supervision of the International Teaching Centre, published by the Bahá'í World Centre, September 2011.
• See Message from the Universal House of Justice dated 28 December 2005.
• See Message 12 December 2011 a letter that has been labelled Ruhi Institutes and the Five Year Plan.
• For the definitive report see The Five Year Plan, 2006-2011 Summary of Achievements (PDF) prepared under the supervision of the International Teaching Centre.
• The core activities delineated for it were:
    -Study Circles
    -Children's Classes
    -Devotional Gatherings
    -Junior Youth Groups
    -Intensive Programs of Growth in "A" Clusters
    -One of the goals was the numerical goal of achieving Intensive Programmes of Growth in no less than 1,500 clusters throughout the world.

Part I: Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice. (26 December 1995 to Ridván 2006)

Part II: Global Plans: Fundamental Concepts

Advancing the Process of Entry by Troops
Two Essential Movements
Learning in Action
Learning to Be Systematic
Learning to Maintain Focus
Learning to Develop Human Resources for Expansion and Consolidation
Learning to Open Aspects of Bahá’í Community Life to Others
Learning to Reach Receptive Populations
Learning to Exercise Disciplined Initiative and to Participate in Collective Action
Learning to Administer Growth
Learning to Plan and to Mobilize

Training Institutes, a document prepared for and approved by the Universal House of Justice, April 1998
Training Institutes and Systematic Growth, a document prepared by the International Teaching Centre, February 2000
Building Momentum: A Coherent Approach to Growth, a document prepared by the International Teaching Centre, April 2003
Impact of Growth on Administration Processes, a document prepared by the International Teaching Centre, July 2005

The publication of Attaining the Dynamics of Growth: Glimpses from Five Continents by International Teaching Centre. The Universal House of Justice asked the International Teaching Centre to choose one example from each continent of an intensive programme of growth and prepare a document to demonstrate at once the diversity of conditions in which the believers everywhere were labouring and the coherent vision that united them as they advanced the process of entry by troops. The document consisted of five case studies and a closing analysis.

The publication of For the Betterment of the World: The Worldwide Bahá'í Community's Approach to Social and Economic Development by Office of Social and Economic Development. It contained essays, photographs, and overviews of local projects around the world illustrating how Bahá'í principles of social and economic development were being carried out in practice.
• See 2018-04-27 for an updated version.

A new initiative of the UN Development Programme and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation launched at Windsor Castle afforded the Bahá'í International Community the opportunity to begin to apply the framework of action underlying the Institute Process to the problem of climate change. Represented by the Bahá'í International Community, the Bahá'í Faith joined other world religions in articulating a Seven-Year Plan for Generational Change with respect to environmental stewardship. Their plan, one of the 31 presented, outlined a community-based methodology of social transformation rooted in the spiritual development of the individual and the channeling of collective energies towards service to humanity. [One Country]
• During the conference BIC representatives Tahirih Naylor and Arthur Lyon Dahl were presented with certificates from HRH Prince Philip, the founder of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC). [BIC History 2009]

The launch of the Third Five Year Plan (2011-2016).
• The main goals of the Plan were:
    - To raise the number of clusters with a Programme of Growth from 1,500 to 5,000
    -The institutions will mature their own dynamic process.   -The individuals will spare no effort to increase participation. Habits of thought will evolve to reduce dichotomies and learn process.   -With the maturity of the institutions, cooperation and reciprocity will increase among the three protagonists.   - will be continued expansion of the programs of intensive growth as well as material development.   - centennial of the writing of the Tablets of the Divine Plan will be commemorated.   - National Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs to be constructed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Papua New Guinea
    - Local Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs planned for clusters. The first five were to be in Battambang, Cambodia; Matunda Soy, in Kenya; in Bihar Sharif, India; Norte del Cauca, in Colombia; and in Tanna, Vanuatu.
• See the message from the Universal House of Justice dated 28 December, 2010 addressed to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors. Other message are:
  • Ridván 2010
  • 29 August 2010
  • 1 January 2011
  • Ridván 2011

The launch of the Fourth Five Year Plan (2016-2021).
• The principal goals of the Plan were to "seek to raise the number of clusters where a programme of growth has become intensive to 5,000 by Riḍván 2021" and to add "several hundred more" to some two hundred clusters that have already advanced beyond the third milestone. [Message dated 29 December 2015 from the Universal House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors.

  Other messages related to the Plan are:

  • 2 January 2016 – To the Bahá'ís of the World
  • 26 March 2016 – To the Bahá'ís of the World acting under the Mandate of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
  • 26 March 2016 – To the chosen recipients of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan, the Bahá'ís of the United States and the Bahá'ís of Canada
  • Riḍván 2016 – To the Bahá'ís of the World

    Objectives

  • institute process to gain strength
  • strengthen the pattern of life (Nucleus of friends 29 December2015)
  • build the capacity to accompany
  • widen the circle of participation
  • to have 5,000 intensive programs of growth
  • there will be "Precious possibilities that will not return" (Ridván2016)
  • the Area Teaching Committes to rise to a new level of functioning
  • the Local Spiritual Assemblies development for increased capacity
  • to commemorate the Bicentenials in 2017 and 2019, the Ascension in 2021
  • All the the followers of Bahá'u'lláh have learned in the last 20 year will culminate in the accomplishments of the next 5. [29 December 2015]

The announcement of the election of the 12th Universal House of Justice. Those elected were Paul Lample, Chuungu Malitonga, Payman Mohajer, Shahriar Razavi, Stephen Hall, Ayman Rouhani, Stephen Birkland, Juan Francisco Mora, and Praveen Mallik. [BWNS1258]
• The twelfth International Bahá'í Convention was held from the 29th of April until the 2nd of May. In the election of the Universal House of Justice over 1,300 ballots were cast by representatives of 160 national communities. [BWNS1256, BWNS1257, BWNS1259, BWNS1261]
• See Vimeo for a short film of the International Convention by Farideh Baki-Nasseri.
• The film A Widening Embrace was screened at the Convention, enriching the consultations of the delegates. It is a documentary film about the community-building efforts of the Bahá'í world. Many of the themes discussed over the days of the Convention were highlighted in the practical examples presented in the documentary which tells the story of the transformation of communities unfolding throughout the world by featuring the process in 24 communities representing different realities and contexts. The 77-minute film, which was commissioned by the Universal House of Justice, was made available in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, and Persian. [BWNS1260] .

Some 80 members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors met for a conference at the Bahá'í World Centre following the 12th International Bahá'í Convention. On that occasion, the Counsellors were able to reflect on major developments in Bahá'í communities around the world. In order to share their experiences some of their stories were recorded and made available via podcasts. The Counsellors discussed the impact of spiritual and moral education programs offered by the Bahá'í community on youth and the communities in which they live, drawing on experiences in Cambodia, Kiribati, India, Norway, Spain, and Timor Leste (or East Timor). [BWNS1264]
• Counsellors in Africa, Alain Pierre Djoulde, Clément Thyrrell Feizouré, Maina Mkandawire, and Judicaël Mokolédiscuss discussed endeavours in the field of education in that continent. [BWNS1269]
• The podcasts can be found here or on SoundCloud.

The films can be downloaded using the link below:
Nurturing younger generations
Exploring the empowerment of junior youth
Communities learning to advance together

The end of the Five Year Plan marked the conclusion of a series of plans that began in 1996 with the Four Year Plan (1996-2000) and the call to establish a series of Training Institutes. Next came the Twelve Month Plan (2000-2001) followed by four Five Year Plans, 2001-2006,2006-2011, 2011-2016 and finally, the Fourth Five Year Plan (2016-2021). For a synopsis of the progress of the Faith during this period see the Ridván Message.

Achievements of the last Five Year Plan (2016-2021)

• Two Bicentenaries were commemorated, the anniversary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh on the 21st and the 22nd of October in 2017 and the birth of the Báb on the 29th and 30th of October in 2019.
• The last continental House of Worship was completed in Santiago in 2016.
• Other Houses of Worship were completed, Battambang (National)(2017), Villa Rica Cauca (Local) (2018), Port Moresby(National) (2016), Matunda Soy (Local) (2019), and Tanna (Local) (2019).
• Designs for Houses of Worship in Bihar Sharif and Kinshasa were completed in 2020.
• Some 300,000 core activities were sustained, a rise from 100,000 at the beginning of the Plan. Participation had risen above 2,000,000 (3 fold).
• There were some 329 national and regional training institutes in operation.
• By this time 750,000 people had completed Book 1. The number of courses completed by individuals was at 2,000,000, a rise of over 1/3 in 5 years.
• Clusters where there were Intensive Programs of Growth was at 4,000 (hindered by the global health crisis).
• Those Clusters where the third Milestone was passed was at 200 in 40 counties at the beginning of the Plan has risen to 1,000 in 100 countries. There were over 30 clusters where the number of core activities exceeded 1,000, in places, several thousand involving the participation of more than 20,000 people in a single cluster.
• Evidence of the society-building power of the Faith was becoming more and more evident. In some instances there has been a movement of populations where age-old hostilities were being left behind. A significant advance in the process of entry by troops has been achieved.
• There has been an "undreamed capacity to learn, to grow, and to serve humanity.

  This date marked the beginning of the Third Epoch of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan. [Message 30 December 2021]

Participants in Core Activities: 2016 approx 333,000          2021 2,000,000

Number of National and Regional Training Institutes in Operation:      2021 329

Number of participants who have complete at least one book in the sequence:      2021 750,000

Number of courses completed by participants in the main sequence of courses: 2016 approx. 666,666     2021 2,000,000

Number of Clusters with an Intensive Program of Growth:      2021 approx. 4,000

Number of Cluster that have passed the third milestone: 2016 20 in 40 countries          2021 1,000 in nearly 100 countries. [Riḍván Message 2021]

In a letter dated 25 November 2020 the Universal House of Justice announced a Nine Year Plan to begin at Ridván 2022. In the letter to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors dated 30 December 2021 the details were announced.

Objectives:

• establish programs of growth in all cluster in the world (22,000) 14,000 at some level and 11,000 intensive, with 5,000 past the third milestone.
• establish at least on Milestone Three cluster in every country and every region of the world. This "constitutes on of the Plan's chief objectives"
• deployment of teams of international and homefront pioneers.
• enrollments "wide open" involvement of families and households as larger groups embrace the pattern of Bahá'í life.
• expanding nucleus
• coordination of large numbers as more communities enter the 3rd milestone
• maturation of Bahá'í institutions
• in areas where activities reach high degree of prevalence the inhabitants now possess a substantially increased capacity to steer the course of their own development, and the institutions and agencies of the Faith there now have an expanded vision of their responsibilities.
• more efforts to support social and economic development
• participation in the discourses of society as a means of releasing what the Guardian described as "the society-building power" of the Faith.
• It will be heralded by the convocation of a series of conferences held over a span of months across the globe. [25 November 2020]
  • This goal has been achieved. About 10,000 conferences were held worldwide. [BWNS1601; BWNS1601; BWNS1593; BWNS1592; BSNS1590]

The film, An Expansive Prospect, commissioned by the Universal House of Justice, was screened at the 13th International Bahá'í Convention.

The 72 minute film highlighted efforts in four regions of the world where people, communities, and institutions were striving together to channel the transformative power of the Bahá'í teachings toward social change. It was scripted in English with subtitled versions in other languages. A voiceover version of the film in Arabic was also made available. [BWNS1660]

• It can be found on YouTube in the original English. Other versions include Russian, Spanish, French, Farsi, and Arabic.