…any project started by the Cause should be designed to grow
soundly and steadily, and not to collapse from attrition. In other words,
external assistance and funds, Bahá'í and non-Bahá'í, may be used for capital
acquisitions, to make surveys, to initiate activities, to bring in expertise,
but the aim should be for each project to be able to continue and to develop on
the strength of local Bahá'í labour, funds and enthusiasm even if all external
aid should be cut off. (8 May 1984, written on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly; compilation ‘Agriculture and Rural
Life’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice )
