Socio-economic development (Bahá'í)

Since its inception the Bahá'í Faith has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics.

The accelerated growth of the worldwide community in the 1960s-1980s expanded it with a large number of poor, illiterate villagers and tribal peoples in India, Africa and South America, which meant an enormous challenge for the social and economic development of communities. According to the Bahá'í teachings, development should increase people’s self-reliance, communal solidarity, giving access to knowledge, and, where possible, removing sources of injustice. Spiritual, moral and material development should be linked together. These priorities are envisioned as crucial to the development of world peace.

The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice dated 20 October 1983 was released. The Office of Social and Economic Development was established and Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. Worldwide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482.

In time with the release of the Universal House of Justice's release of its statement The Promise of World Peace, it also sent a letter of all national assemblies to specify goals for the community for the International Year of Peace. These goals included sponsoring activities about the theme of peace which is a priority of the religion: to engage the attention of people to relevant topics related to peace (often related matters of justice and development), a publicity campaign encouraging these goals, publishing new literature, and already existing serial publications on the subject, Bahá'í radio stations to devote programming on it, the Association for Bahá'í Studies to devote scholarly activities on it, the encouragement of artists and musicians in their contribution and that they should invite colleagues to the work.

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