On Baha'i Social Development Projects: Preparation for Social Action

Uploaded on September 30, 2006 by outromundialista on flickr

Baha'is are engaged not just in teaching their faith. Enormous energy around the world is expended by Baha'is in social and economic development projects.

They range from simple tutorial schools to college-level courses, and from village agricultural and health education projects to participation in major reforestation programs. The majority of these projects operate at the grassroots level, relying on local resources and coordination. http://www.bahai.us/social-economic-development

Here is a blog devoted to one such project in India, a project to provide education to youth who have dropped out of school:

discourse on preparation for social action: A virtual space for tutors of FUNDAEC's Preparation for Social Action material to share learning and experience.

Here is a portion of the description of what Preparation for Social Action is:

A distinctive characteristic of the PSA is that, while it is a 6-year formal educational program corresponding to the last 6 years of secondary education, it unlike a traditional high school curriculum, can be studied in small groups with a tutor, at a time and location that the group decides upon. This flexibility renders PSA accessible to rural people and those who otherwise struggle to access the formal education system because of time, work, or other constraints. http://faspsa.blogspot.com/2006/09/preparation-for-social-action-training.html

Here is how Shahzad begins his post on his activities to promote PSA one day recently:

I visited Padaria, a village about 16 kms. away from Bhopal, which comes under the Bhopal Cluster, with Mr. Sachin (FAS staff member) on his bike. There are a few Bahá’ís in the village and a couple of Bahá’í families. On the way we saw Manju, a Bahá’í youth from Padaria waiting outside her college for a bus. Sachin offered her a lift and then all three of us went to Manju’s house. There we also met Manju’s brother Pawan and his friend Sanjay, both very dedicated Bahá’í youth. http://faspsa.blogspot.com/2006/10/9-october-2006-padaria-village-shahzad.html

Discourse on Preparation for Social Action is a new blog that represents a fascinating use of blogging as a communication tool among participants in a development project. How wonderful, too, that this narrative is right there on a public blog for all the world to see! There are not a lot of posts to peruse. It is clear that the friends on this project have made a remarkable beginning. The handful of posts from the likes of devoted souls like Shahzad makes for fascinating reading. -gw