Social action

Children in Colombia tend to a small garden.

Social action refers to a range of activities undertaken in order to contribute to the material and social wellbeing of a community. Bahá’í communities around the world have become engaged in social action at a grassroots level in response to Bahá’u’lláh's counsel to be "anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements."

These efforts, while modest, generally take the form of projects of a fixed duration which aim to improve some aspect of the life of society in a locality, including health and well-being, education, agriculture, or environmental protection. These projects are often initiated with the support of local training institutes, which offer a framework for the collective development of both spiritual insights and practical skills of service. In some cases, such initiatives take on a more formal character, and non-profit, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may be established to expand activities to address issues of social and economic development at a gradually broader scale.

The Universal House of Justice defined the sphere of social action as follows:

“ Most appropriately conceived in terms of a spectrum, social action can range from fairly informal efforts of limited duration undertaken by individuals or small groups of friends to programmes of social and economic development with a high level of complexity and sophistication implemented by Bahá’í-inspired organizations. Irrespective of its scope and scale, all social action seeks to apply the teachings and principles of the Faith to improve some aspect of the social or economic life of a population, however modestly. ” — 2010 Ridván message, Universal House of Justice.

See also

• Social and economic development