What Is the Nine Year Plan?
The Nine Year Plan (2022–2031) is the first major undertaking in a new twenty-five-year series of global Plans launched by the Universal House of Justice at Riḍván 2022. It follows a transformative quarter-century of growth (1996–2021) during which the Bahá'í world developed an "undreamed-of capacity to learn, to grow, and to serve humanity."
The Plan's overarching aim is the release of the society-building power of the Faith in ever-greater measures — a single, unified purpose pursued simultaneously at the levels of the individual, the local community, and the institutions of the Administrative Order.
It is generational in scope. By Riḍván 2046, when the full series concludes, the Bahá'í community will need to have "acquired capacities that can scarcely be glimpsed at present." The Nine Year Plan is the first stage of that long arc.
"The Plan that will shortly commence… will make demands of the individual believer, the community, and the institutions reminiscent of the demands that the Guardian made of the Bahá'í world at the outset of the Ten Year Crusade." — Universal House of Justice, 30 December 2021
At a Glance
- Duration2022 – 2031 (9 years)
- Issued byUniversal House of Justice
- SeriesFirst of a 25-year arc
- Series endsRiḍván 2046
- EpochThird epoch of Divine Plan
- Core aimSociety-building power
- Preceded byFive Year Plan (2016–2021)
Three Protagonists
Deepening capacity for service, study, and teaching
Vibrant, outward-looking, welcoming all
Supporting, guiding, and enabling growth
Twenty-Five Years of Plans
The Nine Year Plan is built on a quarter-century of systematic learning. Understanding that arc is essential to understanding the Plan.
Four Year Plan
The beginning of a new series. A single aim: a significant advance in the process of entry by troops. Training institutes established worldwide to generate a flow of individuals capable of sustaining growth. The Ruhi Institute curriculum adopted globally.
Five Year Plan (2001–2006)
Clusters introduced as the geographic unit for planning. Three-month cycles of activity established. The "cluster" framework allowed communities to assess their reality and chart growth systematically. Core activities became portals for people from the wider society.
Five Year Plan (2006–2011)
Intensive programmes of growth established in advanced clusters. Focus on junior youth groups as a distinct arm of the educational framework. Social action and participation in discourses of society brought into focus. Outward-looking orientation deepened.
Five Year Plan (2011–2016)
Movement of clusters along the continuum of development. Regional Bahá'í Councils fully established in 230 regions. The concept of "milestone 3" clusters emerged — communities learning to welcome large numbers. Society-building power increasingly visible.
Five Year Plan (2016–2021) — The Capstone
Called "breathtaking" by the UHJ. Core activities tripled to 300,000. Participation rose above 2 million. Milestone 3 clusters grew from 200 to 1,000 in nearly 100 countries. Bicentenary celebrations galvanized communities worldwide. The third epoch of the Divine Plan began.
Nine Year Plan (2022–2031) ← NOW
First Plan of a new 25-year series. The aim shifts from expansion and consolidation to releasing the society-building power of the Faith. Generational in scope. Builds on everything learned since 1996 and demands capacities "that can scarcely be glimpsed at present."
Core Activities
Four activities form the heartbeat of Bahá'í community life. Together, they generate the dynamics of growth and serve as portals through which people encounter the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh.
Study Circles
Groups of individuals studying the sequence of courses prepared by the Ruhi Institute. Study circles build spiritual qualities, knowledge, and practical skills for service. They are the main channel through which the institute process advances — the movement of individuals through a sequence of courses propels, and is propelled by, the movement of clusters along their continuum of development.
Children's Classes
Spiritual education for children that nurtures moral character, a love of the divine teachings, and an understanding of humanity's oneness. Teachers are trained through the Ruhi Institute and supplementary materials. The programme aims to reach every child in a village or neighbourhood — a goal already being realized in some advanced clusters.
Devotional Meetings
Gatherings centred on prayer, the recitation of sacred writings, and the cultivation of a devotional spirit. Open to all — believers and seekers alike. Devotional meetings transform the spiritual atmosphere of a neighbourhood and are often the first point of encounter between people from the wider society and the Bahá'í community. The bicentenary celebrations demonstrated the extraordinary power these gatherings can have at scale.
Junior Youth Groups
A programme for young people aged 11–14, described as having "extraordinary potential." Animators trained through the Ruhi Institute guide junior youth through a curriculum that develops their powers of expression, moral reasoning, and commitment to service. Junior youth are not merely the recipients of educational effort — they are recognised as active agents of community transformation in their own right.
The Framework for Action
A framework is not a formula. It provides a coherent structure within which communities can develop patterns of action suited to their specific circumstances, drawing on what the rest of the Bahá'í world is learning.
The Cluster
The geographic unit of planning — "a manageable size with distinct social and economic features." Every cluster worldwide is on a continuum of development. Plans are made at the cluster level, organised into three-month cycles of activity. This geographic unit proved fundamental to the sustained, large-scale growth of the Faith.
Continuum of Development
Every cluster occupies a point on a continuum, moving from nascent activity to intensive growth to the kind of transformative community-building visible in the most advanced clusters. Progress along this continuum is the measure of collective achievement.
Milestones
Markers of progress along the continuum. Milestone 1: First intensive programme of growth established. Milestone 2: Growth accelerating systematically. Milestone 3: Community learns to welcome large numbers — a defining achievement. By 2021, 1,000 clusters had passed milestone 3 in nearly 100 countries.
Three-Month Cycles
Growth in each cluster is organised into three-month cycles of activity — a rhythm of planning, action, reflection, and renewed planning. This cyclical approach allows communities to learn from experience quickly and refine their efforts systematically without being locked into rigid long-term commitments.
Training Institutes
Every National Spiritual Assembly oversees a training institute that implements the sequence of Ruhi Institute courses. There are 329 national and regional institutes globally. Institutes are the engines of human resource development — by 2021, three-quarters of a million people had completed at least one course, and 2 million course completions had been recorded overall.
A Culture of Learning
Perhaps the most important element of the framework: "any effort to advance begins with an orientation towards learning." This means being willing to act, make mistakes, reflect honestly, and refine. Communities that advanced most quickly combined faith, perseverance, and commitment with a readiness to learn — without hesitating to act.
Key Terms
Institutions
The Administrative Order is the vehicle through which the Faith advances. Each institution has a distinct role, and their collaboration is the key to coherent progress.
Universal House of Justice
The supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith. Elected every five years. Issues the global Plans, provides guidance to all institutions, and steers the course of the Faith. The Nine Year Plan was announced at Riḍván 2022. Its seat is at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa, Israel.
Continental Boards of Counsellors
Appointed bodies that serve the propagation and protection of the Faith across continents. Their major conference in December 2021 (at the World Centre) launched deliberations for the Nine Year Plan. They work closely with NSAs and Regional Councils to systematize learning and ensure insights from the grassroots are widely disseminated.
National Spiritual Assemblies
Elected annually in each country. Responsible for the overall direction of the Faith nationally. NSAs oversee training institutes, appoint Regional Councils and National Growth Committees, and guide the work of Local Assemblies. Their enhanced capacity to manage complexity is one of the notable achievements of the 25-year period.
Regional Bahá'í Councils
Established in 230 regions worldwide. An agency of the NSA responsible for a specific geographic region. Councils have proved "indispensable for advancing the process of growth" — where a Council develops enhanced administrative capacity, the whole region tends to accelerate. The Nine Year Plan calls for more systematic support from Councils to Local Assemblies.
Local Spiritual Assemblies
Elected annually in every locality with nine or more adult Bahá'ís. The LSA is the institution closest to grassroots activity. During the Nine Year Plan, LSAs are expected to take a greater share of responsibility for nurturing community development — including managing local funds, supporting social action, and interacting with civil society. A two-stage electoral process is being authorized in more places.
Auxiliary Board Members
Appointed by the Continental Boards of Counsellors, Auxiliary Board members serve the protection and propagation of the Faith at the grassroots level. They are described as "closely connected to conditions at the grassroots and alert to anything that might affect the spirit of a community." Their role includes helping communities overcome prejudice, strengthen unity, and maintain focus on the Plan's aims.
The Scale of Growth
Achievements at the close of the Five Year Plan (2021) — the foundation on which the Nine Year Plan builds.
The Ten Messages
The Nine Year Plan was announced and elaborated through ten messages from the Universal House of Justice, issued between November 2020 and January 2022.
The Role of Youth
"One of the most striking and inspiring features of this twenty-five-year period has been the service rendered by Bahá'í youth, who with faith and valour have assumed their rightful place in the forefront of the community's efforts."
Lowering the Voting Age
At Riḍván 2021, the Universal House of Justice announced that the age at which a Bahá'í may vote in administrative elections would be lowered from 21 to 18, in recognition of "the increasingly evident maturity" of youth worldwide. The age for serving on a Spiritual Assembly remains 21.
Teachers of the Cause
Youth have served as teachers, study circle tutors, and animators of junior youth groups across all five continents. Their ability to combine "faith and valour" with "knowledge, insights and skills" accumulated over 25 years sets them apart from earlier generations.
Homefront Pioneers
Many youth have arisen as homefront pioneers — moving within their own countries to open new localities to the Faith or reinforce communities in need. This form of service is considered among the highest forms of consecrated action a believer can undertake.
Cluster Coordinators
Youth have served as cluster coordinators and members of Bahá'í agencies, taking on institutional responsibilities that were once reserved for older believers. Their "devotion and sacrifice" in these roles is explicitly praised by the House of Justice.
Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity
Through undergraduate and graduate seminars, the ISGP equips Bahá'í youth to engage with academic and professional discourses from the perspective of the Faith's teachings. Now serves youth from over 100 countries — a pipeline for future contributors to public life.
Junior Youth as Protagonists
Young people aged 11–14 are not merely beneficiaries of the junior youth programme — they are recognized as active agents. The programme develops their "powers of expression," moral reasoning, and sense of mission. Many of the most vibrant communities in the world have been transformed by the energy of junior youth groups.
Social Action & Public Discourse
Community-building, social action, and participation in the discourses of society are not separate tracks — they are three interconnected dimensions of a single mission.
Social Action
Efforts to apply the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh to the material conditions of society. Since 1996, the capacity for social action has grown dramatically: from 250 sustained projects to 1,500, from 40 to more than 160 Bahá'í-inspired organisations, and over 70,000 grassroots initiatives of short duration each year — a fifty-fold increase.
The Bahá'í International Development Organization (BIDO) was established to support and coordinate these efforts and provide dedicated stimulus. Social action is understood not as charity, but as a systematic learning process — applying the same discipline of reflection and refinement used in community-building.
Participation in Public Discourse
Bahá'ís at all levels — individual believers, national communities, and the Bahá'í International Community — engage with the prevalent discourses of society: on governance, human rights, gender equality, sustainability, education, and the role of religion. The BIC added Offices in Africa, Asia, and Europe during this period, and national Offices of External Affairs have been greatly fortified.
The goal is not advocacy for a political position, but to offer a Bahá'í perspective — grounded in the conviction that the oneness of humanity is the organizing principle of a new world order.
The Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity
Offers undergraduate and graduate seminars that explore academic disciplines in the light of Bahá'í teachings. Now serves Bahá'í youth from well over 100 countries. Aims to raise up a generation of scholars and practitioners who can contribute to the discourses shaping civilization.
Houses of Worship
The Mashriqu'l-Adhkár — the "Dawning Place of the Mention of God" — is a key institution increasingly occupying the heart of community life. The last Mother Temple was erected in Santiago, Chile. Two national and five local Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs are under construction. The Houses of Worship in Battambang, Cambodia and Norte del Cauca, Colombia have opened. The Shrines of Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb are recognized UNESCO World Heritage sites, receiving up to 1.5 million visitors per year.