The Five Year Plan 2011-2016 (Summary)/Initiating and Sustaining a Programme of Growth

Initiating and Sustaining a Programme of Growth

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c diverse settings across far-flung

regions of the globe, the friends have been learning to initiate and sustain new programmes of growth. Among the different ways in which communities reached “the first of several milestones in a process of sustainable growth”,'° a few simple actions were widely embraced: deploying and supporting homefront pioneers, drawing on the assistance of neighbouring communities, mobilizing youth, and working with resident believers. Often, several approaches were used in combination to attain the dynamics of a programme of growth. By the end

of the Five Year Plan, the community of

the Greatest Name had added some 3,000 programmes of growth to the 2,000 that were established in previous Plans—an indication of the “systematic, determined,

A junior youth group in Chimoio, Malawi.

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and selfless action”" taken by the followers of Baha’u’llah to spread the Cause of God among the peoples of the world.

Homefront Pioneers

At the outset of the Five Year Plan, the Universal House of Justice noted that “the successful prosecution of the Plan will require the services of several thousand consecrated souls who, spurred on by their love for the Blessed Beauty, will forsake their homes to settle in villages, towns and cities in order to raise to 5,000 the number of clusters with programmes of growth”.'* The believers rose to meet the challenge, as some 5,000 friends wholeheartedly responded

to this call and settled in clusters on the

6 The Five Year Plan 2011-2016: Summary of Achievements and Learning [Page 7]homefront, where they initiated efforts that gave rise to organic growth. The House of Justice has described this as an “astonishing achievement”.!?

This achievement testifies to the capacity that was built among the friends in many regions of the world. Experience gained

by committed believers in their home clusters, where a pattern of growth had previously been established, gave them

the confidence to assist communities in other clusters. Moreover, familiarity with the local language and culture, a deep understanding of the social conditions

of the new localities in which they were serving, and an ability to connect with their inhabitants through existing social ties and new friendships played a key role in the success of their endeavours. These friends were ably supported by individuals from nearby advanced clusters and by those serving on regional and national institutions and agencies. Auxiliary Board members also played a crucial role in encouraging the friends to pioneer and then assisting them in their efforts to establish a programme

of growth at their posts. Some of these homefront pioneers served full time, bringing lessons learned in the communitybuilding process to their service as tutors, teachers, animators, or members of cluster agencies. Often, the pioneers served in a specific area of a village or a street in a neighbourhood, concentrating their efforts where there was heightened receptivity.

In many places, it was owing to the efforts of pioneers that national communities were able to fulfil their goals for establishing programmes of growth during the Five Year Plan. In Papua New Guinea, during the initial months of the Plan, some 50 pioneers from across the country were identified, oriented in their service, and dispatched to several regions, a deployment

Advancing the Process of Entry by Troops

that helped extend the process of growth from a few dozen clusters to nearly 100. Over the course of the Plan in India, more than 100 homefront pioneers contributed to establishing a significant portion of the 362 new programmes of growth in that country.

Institutions at the regional and national levels made use of various means to identify, approach, and prepare potential pioneers.

In the Talamanca cluster of Costa Rica, a native believer and a family responded to

a call for pioneers at an institute seminar and moved to a cluster in the region with

an indigenous population. In the northern and southern regions of South Africa, the institute boards identified potential pioneers, who were then visited in their homes. This strategy allowed conversations to take

place that helped the friends advance their understanding of the role of homefront pioneers and deepen their commitment to service. Before settling at their posts, the friends attended an orientation programme that helped them achieve clarity about

their individual and collective services and strengthened their understanding of the work at hand, specifically how to assist a local population to establish a sound institute process. Later, members of institutions and agencies at the national and regional levels came together with 24 pioneers from 15 clusters throughout the country to learn from their experience. This gathering helped the institutions refine their orientation programme for future pioneers and identify capabilities among the pioneers that needed strengthening.

An important aspect of the work of the institutions was to offer ongoing support

to the homefront pioneers, which included organizing gatherings for them to reflect periodically on their service. In the Man cluster in Céte d’Ivoire, to help alleviate suspicions about a pioneer being a newcomer [Page 8]Pioneers Supporting an Unfolding Process of Growth

A process of growth begins to unfold in a cluster when the believers there—or at times

a single homefront pioneer— “enter into meaningful and distinctive conversation with local residents” and find opportunities to initiate one

or more of the core activities. Translating these initial stirrings of interest into a programme

for the sustained expansion

and consolidation of the Faith follows no predetermined route. As the examples below illustrate, a variety of methods were used to start a process through which residents in a cluster, “prompted by a wish to contribute to the spiritual and material well-being of their communities, [were] enabled to begin offering acts of service”.

In the Highlands cluster in Kenya, a homefront pioneer collaborated with three local Baha’is to introduce devotional meetings to their neighbours. The local residents greatly enjoyed attending these gatherings and began to ask what more they could do in their community. After receiving a suggestion that they could start children’s classes, some of the families identified youth who might wish to assist with this activity. Soon after, visiting tutors came from a neighbouring cluster to facilitate the study of Book 3 of the sequence of courses, and a few children’s classes began. These initial activities attracted local

inhabitants, particularly youth and junior youth, who joined the community-building efforts in their area. Before long, a vibrant community life flourished as young people joined hands with adults and dedicated their energies to hosting devotional gatherings in their homes and encouraging the participation of children and junior youth in the educational programmes of the community.

In the Aragatsotn cluster in Armenia, after a pioneering couple invited their neighbours to participate in core activities, a programme of growth emerged in only four months. Three of these neighbours formally embraced the Faith after study of the first book in the sequence of courses. One of them shared the Baha’i Teachings with some

30 people in her own circle of acquaintances, and together with her mother planned to reach

out to their extended family members residing in nearby localities. The pioneers, together with the new Baha’i families, continued to widen their circle of friendship. They visited their neighbours on every Baha’i Holy Day to share the Message of Baha’u’llah and invite those who expressed interest to participate in devotional gatherings and the study of institute courses.

In the Valle del Cauca Department in Colombia, several clusters passed the first milestone through the efforts of homefront pioneers using approaches that had proved successful in other places.

They exchanged greetings with their neighbours each day,

Participants of a pioneer orientation in Nuuk, Greenland.

The Five Year Plan 2011-2016: Summary of Achievements and Learning [Page 9]which led to meaningful conversations and new friendships. Their participation in sporting or cultural events, such as football matches organized by youth, also provided opportunities for them to integrate into the life of the local community. Having established ties of friendship, they held several meetings for local residents to converse on topics such as the current conditions of society and how they could contribute to its betterment, the role of youth, and the aims of the training institute’s sequence of courses. These conversations led to initiating study circles and service activities with greater participation of local residents.

The work of homefront pioneers in a cluster was often reinforced in the beginning by those who visited regularly, often to facilitate intensive study of the institute courses. In the Muhuzi cluster in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a homefront pioneer, after having several conversations with local friends, found nearly 40 individuals who expressed interest in participating in core activities. As the pioneer struggled to respond to all those who wished to be involved, two friends from a nearby community offered to visit the cluster and serve as tutors. The first of these friends facilitated study circles which raised up 14 children’s class teachers. In time, 3 new children’s classes were established, with a total of 36 children. The second tutor helped 14 friends study Book 5 and accompanied them as they formed their own junior youth groups—4 groups were established with 21 junior youth. Through the combined support of the pioneer and the visiting tutors, a programme of growth was established in the cluster within a short period.

Advancing the Process of Entry by Troops

in the village, the National Spiritual Assembly wrote a letter of introduction to the village chief and other authorities. Soon after, the Auxiliary Board member informed the local population of the purpose of the pioneer’s presence. In addition, the Regional Baha’i Council encouraged a believer who had experience in the institute process to lend continual support to the pioneer and

to help train more tutors. This process

of accompanying not only strengthened

the effectiveness of the pioneer but also enhanced the functioning of the institutions. In the Cook Islands, capacity at the national level was increased as institutions and agencies made a concerted effort to work side by side with the pioneers in the country and to regularly reflect with them.

Support from Neighbouring Communities

Much of the support for emerging clusters came from neighbouring areas with intensive programmes of growth. Visitors to these more advanced clusters could learn through first-hand experience how to foster a process of growth; teaching teams or experienced tutors from such clusters would travel to nearby areas to support fledgling activities; and regional reflection gatherings provided an avenue for friends from advanced clusters to share insights on their contributions to the task of establishing new programmes

of growth. In this way, advanced clusters became places from which lessons learned through experience flowed widely.

In India, clusters where there was experience with an intensive programme of growth served as reservoirs of resources that helped to extend the growth process

to neighbouring communities, an approach that contributed to the establishment of hundreds of new programmes of growth by Ridvan 2016. As a result of such support, [Page 10]

Youth gather with a group of children in Australia.

activities steadily increased in villages and neighbourhoods, and in several clusters these smaller geographic units became host to more than 100 activities. This concentration of activities heightened among local inhabitants their sense of ownership over the process of community building.

In the Surgana cluster, the growth process accelerated when a teaching team from a nearby cluster reinforced the efforts of two homefront pioneers through regular visits. Soon, 24 friends, the majority of them young women, formally joined the Faith and advanced rapidly through the sequence of institute courses. The believers in an increasing number of clusters throughout the country helped to raise the capacity of friends in neighbouring clusters to expand activities by involving more and more people in the institute process and accompanying them in their service, and structures to nurture and sustain these activities began to emerge. Regional institutions increased their ability to collaborate with others and to systematize reflection gatherings at both the cluster and regional levels. To support the cluster agencies, coordination schemes were established at the subregional level. At the same time, inter-regional reflection gatherings were held for members of institutions and institute coordinators

to share insights and learn from one another’s experience.

A junior youth group studies Breezes of Confirmation in Cluj, Romania.

Mobilizing Youth ona Path of Service

In many cases, young people were in the front ranks of those helping to stimulate activity in emerging clusters by meeting local people and inviting them to participate in community-building activities, often lending assistance through teaching campaigns or extended stays in the cluster. In Liberia, members of a team visiting the Ganta cluster identified local youth interested in serving as junior youth animators and invited them to their own cluster for training. The activities the youth started upon their return to Ganta helped that cluster advance past the first milestone and, in turn, become a reservoir from which others arose to support a neighbouring community.

As large numbers of youth around the world offered their services as pioneers, the institutions and communities began to learn how best to support and empower them at their posts. After two youth were deployed to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, the Regional Baha’i Council, in consultation

10 The Five Year Plan 2011-2016: Summary of Achievements and Learning [Page 11]

A children’s class in Madagascar.

with an Auxiliary Board member, developed a plan for them to receive support from cluster agencies. In addition, the Regional Council identified older believers in each community who could befriend the youth and serve alongside them. The aim of the Regional Council was to provide for the ongoing training of these young souls

and to ensure that they felt encouraged

and focused in their daily service. In the Northwestern region of the United States, 77 individuals, of whom 39 were youth, arose as homefront pioneers to meet the goals of the region. After consultation with institutions and agencies and an orientation programme, these friends moved to selected neighbourhoods in goal clusters throughout the region.

In some regions, institutions organized opportunities for young people to offer shortterm service over the course of extended holiday periods. During their long summer break, a group of 19 youth from Sydney, Australia, embarked on a two-and-a-hal fmonth period of service. As part of their orientation before moving to four goal clusters, they dedicated two weeks to an intensive institute campaign and to teaching trips to neighbourhoods in Sydney. “It is only day 12 of my two-and-a-half-month journey,” one youth commented in the closing days of the orientation, “but I have already learned

Advancing the Process of Entry by Troops

A junior youth group in Khujand, Tajikistan.

so much about what it means to live a life of service, using my capacity to help empower others to change their communities and cultivate a united world.”

Working with Resident Believers

Many programmes of growth emerged when the resident believers in a cluster took opportunities to converse with local inhabitants and invite them to take part

in a process of individual and collective transformation. At the beginning of the Five Year Plan, there was one Baha’i family in the Ra cluster in the Fiji Islands. Within

a short period, a programme of growth

was established with the help of a visiting team that met with the resident family to study guidance from the Universal House of Justice and consult about engaging youth from the wider community in conversations on spiritual themes. On subsequent trips, the team reflected with the family on the nature of the interactions they had had

and deepened together on the principles involved. The team also regularly visited the newly contacted youth and formed bonds of friendship with them. Through this process, these youth participated in an intensive study of Books 1, 3, and 5. After these developments, a homefront pioneer was deployed to the cluster for three months to help consolidate the efforts of the young people and begin other activities. These initial efforts—forming a nucleus of friends

i1 [Page 12]Building Capacity within a Local Population

Some of the most inspiring stories of the Five Year Plan

are the personal accounts

of homefront pioneers. The following accounts exemplify the joy that comes, after study and practice, from translating the guidance of the Universal House of Justice into reality, and in witnessing a local population

‘|

Participants of a y junior youth group in Ukraine.

gradually build capacity to serve its own community.

“When I first arrived as a pioneer in Jamaica, | had

the sincere but inaccurate conception that all that

was needed to establish a programme of growth in a cluster was to have four or five of each core activity functioning. Within a number of months, | was animating

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other pioneers has helped me to better understand that a more effective approach would be to keep the sustainability of activities in mind when aiming to establish a programme of growth.”

three junior youth groups, teaching four children’s classes, hosting a devotional gathering, and serving as a tutor for a few Book | study circles. Although this was a valuable learning experience

The experience of a homefront pioneer in Odessa, Ukraine, demonstrates how one person with a vision of building capacity within a local population can, unaided and in a short period, enable others to arise and serve.

and enabled me to gain a deeper understanding of each core activity, in time

I dropped the majority of these activities as I realized

I could not sustain them and, in fact, they drew time and energy away from the process of capacity building within the local population. Any enthusiastic homefront or international pioneer settling in a new cluster may be impelled to adopt a similar initial approach. However, my experience and that of

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“A few weeks after moving to Odessa, I met a young woman at a conference. We started talking, and I immediately felt we would become friends. During our conversation, I told her that I had come to Odessa as a Baha’i pioneer.

I briefly told her about the purpose of the Revelation of Baha’u’llah and described

the institute process and

the devotional meetings

held by the community on a weekly basis. She was very

interested, and a few days later she came to a devotional gathering. To my great joy, she felt comfortable and right away started reading Baha’i prayers. The next step in our friendship was to study Book | together, which took us only a few weeks to finish. Soon after, she formally joined the Faith. A few months later, I asked whether she would like to start a devotional gathering in her neighbourhood, which she happily did, inviting some friends and acquaintances to her home. Later, she studied Book 7, as she desired to become a tutor and take her friends through the sequence. It’s a great pleasure to observe her rapid development and her increasing spiritual understanding of life. I hope that soon she will feel so strong that she will be helping others to acquire a spiritual vision and find their path of service.”

The Five Year Plan 2011-2016: Summary of Achievements and Learning [Page 13]

and training youth to support the process of community building—ignited growth across the cluster.

In Navarre, in the north of Spain, change began when a group of friends gathered

to study Book 6 with a desire and vision

to begin a programme of growth in their cluster. This core group of friends studied the guidance of the House of Justice and devised a plan. With a renewed spirit,

they engaged the local population in conversations about the junior youth spiritual empowerment programme, which led to the formation of a junior youth group with 12 participants. Their conversations continued and their bonds grew stronger, so that in time the number of new core activities rose and more friends committed themselves to the community-building process.

After becoming Bahda’is in a large urban cluster, a couple in Brazil returned to their home cluster of Mogi das Cruzes

Advancing the Process of Entry by Troops

Junior

eee, | youth in the

Dominican Republic study and memorize quotes about service before discussing a service project.

with a strong desire to serve. The couple intensively studied Book 5 in the sequence of courses with the help of a visiting tutor and reflected on how they could initiate a process of growth. They spoke about the Faith with people they met, and after they finished studying Book 5, they looked for youngster to participate in the junior youth programme and for youth who would be interested in being trained to serve as animators. They started study circles with these new acquaintances, persevered through every challenge, and saw every chance to accompany new contacts in their study of the institute courses as an opportunity to gain fresh insights and refine their approach. Through their efforts and the support of the visiting friend, a growing nucleus of friends continued to advance the process of growth, establishing core activities and hosting firesides that became regular teaching opportunities.