In the Field: Some Examples

Africa

• In collaboration with the Ministry for the Integration of Women and Social Affairs in Equatorial Guinea, short courses on the advancement of women were organized in the cities of Malabo, Baney, Luba Bata and Ntobo.
• In Cameroon, a project aimed at improving the status of women in seven villages in Lom and Djerem was initiated, and in the three villages of Ndokayo, Badan and Nandoungue, income-generating projects were developed. A total of 145 people, including 70 women, participated in training seminars in Kadei.

  Ugandan Bahá'ís making bricks for new community buildings.

• More than 60 small-scale income-generating projects were initiated at the grassroots level by Assemblies and believers in Kenya, covering activities such as beekeeping, brick-moulding, crafts, literacy, fruit-drying, poultry, textiles and "zero grazing".
• Several kindergartens, owned by Bahá'í women in Mauritius, provided pre-primary education based on Bahá'í principles to both Bahá'í and non-Bahá'í children.
• In Mozambique, two community primary schools in Costa-do-Sol and Matola-Rio operated beginning in 1993.
• Bahá'í nursery schools operated in Ghana, Nigeria and Swaziland.
• In Malawi, 60 grassroots Bahá'í literacy schools were initiated, and 30 Bahá'í primary health care workers were trained and deployed.
• In six communities in Nigeria, development projects were established in the fields of literacy, child education and farming.
• Training courses on literacy, soap-making, beekeeping, local pharmacopoeia and market-gardening were included in the permanent institute programs in Togo.
• A beekeeping project was initiated in Côte d'Ivoire.
• In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 188 community health agents were trained; 24 literacy centres were established; and 72 agricultural facilitators were trained.
• In Zambia, Bahá'ís raised bees in the Eastern region, worked with the district hospital in the Northern region, and held French classes for Rwandan refugees in Lusaka.
• Agricultural and cooperative farming projects were initiated in Ghana, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Americas

• With the help and advice of the Fundación para la Aplicación y Enseñanza de las Ciencias (FUNDAEC), several education foundations for children and youth were established in Colombia.
• Development projects in Panama were geared to agricultural production and the education of children, youth and women. The Badi' School in Villa Saita, San Miguelito District, and the Þahirih social and economic project in the Roberto Duran community were both successfully initiated.

  At the Dorothy Baker Environmental Studies Center in Bolivia, Bahá'ís are exploring farming techniques that promote soil conservation at high altitudes.

• The Bahá'í community of St. Lucia, working with the Ministry of Education, used the Bahá'í Kenya Mothering Programme to train mothers in child care and education.
• In Brazil, local communities established small development initiatives in the areas of health, nutrition, aesthetics, environment and conservation.
• Surifrance, an association set up by a group of Bahá'ís in French Guiana aimed at furthering social and economic development in the Maroni River region, built bread ovens and latrines in small villages and gained the respect of the authorities.
• Costa Rica, the Commonwealth of Dominica, French Guiana and Suriname reported on efforts in the fields of literacy and education.

  Students at the New Era Development Institute in India getting hands on experience in hand pump repair.

Asia

• 20 Bahá'í tutorial schools and four Bahá'í kindergartens were operating in the Philippines.
• In Sri Lanka, the New Garden Preschool was started at the Bahá'í Teaching Institute, Kadugannawa, on 1 January 1996; a similar preschool was started at Naula, in the Matale Teaching Project area; and another school with 73 students was started to teach English.
• In Erdenbulgan, Mongolia, a horticulture project was established, and weekly classes on moral education for orphans were conducted in Ulaan Baatar.
• The National Spiritual Assembly of Nepal sponsored three Bahá'ís for one year of training as community development facilitators at the New Era Development Institute in India. These individuals then served for two years in village development positions in the eastern region of Nepal.
• In Taiwan, believers started moral education projects such as the projects in Keelung Culture Centre, the Songs School in Chungshing New Village, and seminars in the city of T'ai-chung. The seminars were supported by the Board of Education in T'ai-chung.

Australasia

• In Hawaii, the third Bahá'ís in Recovery conference was held, and the Local Spiritual Assembly of Hana sponsored a Co-Dependents Anonymous support group.
• Samoan youth and women produced handicrafts to support teaching and consolidation activities.
• 13 local communities in Vanuatu performed service projects in such fields as water supply, development of women's handicrafts, education, primary health care, literacy classes, and tree-planting. Kindergartens operated in nine Local Assembly areas during the Plan.
• The Rose Garden kindergarten was launched in Suva, Fiji, with financial assistance from the United Nations. Kindergartens also operated in Lomaivuna and Moce.
• In Tonga, two primary schools were established, and plans were underway for the creation of kindergartens in Tongatapu and Eua.
• In March 1995, the first Bahá'í preschool in Tuvalu was started with 15 students, half of whom are not Bahá'ís. The National Spiritual Assembly sponsored two teachers to study for their Preschool Certificate.

Europe

• Free dental camps, organized by the European Bahá'í Association for Oral Health in Korçë, Albania, were so successful that a permanent social and economic project was started in that region. Additionally, Health for Humanity, a Bahá'í-inspired development organization based in the United States, sponsored the Improvement of Eye Services in Albania project.
• In December 1993, Bahá'í co-authors of The Virtues Guide, Linda Kavelin Popov and Dan Popov, participated in the United Nations World NGO Forum to launch the International Year of the Family in Malta. Following the conference, the authors conducted workshops for clergy, teachers and caregivers.