# Shared Prosperity: How Does That Work?

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Wendi Momen, Shared Prosperity: How Does That Work?, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Shared Prosperity
> 
> How Does That Work?
> 
> Wendi Momen
> 
> In January 2013 Save the Children published a report in
> response to the UN’s appeal for suggestions on what should
> replace the eight Millennium Development Goals that come to
> an end in 2015. Entitled ‘Ending Poverty in Our Generation’,
> the report outlined an ambitious new development framework
> which, it said, could help all countries end extreme poverty in
> the next 20 years.1 It was the first time that an organisation
> proposed specific new targets to replace the MDGs.2
> The theme was taken up with alacrity and the idea of ending
> extreme poverty by 2030 became rather an anthem in the
> following months. On 2 April 2013 Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the
> president of the World Bank, announced that the World Bank
> Group’s mission to help free the world of poverty focused on
> two specific goals: to end extreme poverty for the 1.2 billion
> people who continue to live with hunger and destitution by
> 2030 and to promote shared prosperity.3
> When asked what the term ‘shared prosperity’ meant for the
> Bank he responded that ‘The shared prosperity goal captures
> two key elements, economic growth and equity, and it will seek
> to foster income growth among the bottom 40 percent of a
> country’s population. Without sustained economic growth,
> poor people are unlikely to increase their living standards. But
> growth is not enough by itself. Improvement in the Shared
> Prosperity Indicator requires growth to be inclusive of the less
> 200                                              Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> well-off.’ But he went on to say that the goal of shared
> prosperity goal did not imply reducing inequality by
> redistributing wealth, by ‘suggesting that countries redistribute
> an economic pie of a certain size, or to take from the rich and
> give to the poor’. Rather, his point was that ‘if a country can
> grow the size of its pie, while at the same time share it in ways
> that boost the income of the bottom 40 percent of its
> population, then it is moving toward shared prosperity. So the
> goal combines the notions of rising prosperity and equity.’
> ‘Ending extreme poverty’ is defined by him as ‘the percentage
> of people living with less than $1.25 a day to fall to no more
> than 3 percent globally by 2030’. Promoting shared prosperity
> means ‘fostering income growth of the bottom 40 percent of
> the population in every country.’ He went on to say that
> ‘Ending extreme poverty within a generation and promoting
> shared prosperity must be achieved in such a way as to be
> sustainable over time and across generations. This requires
> promoting environmental, social, and fiscal sustainability. We
> need to secure the long-term future of our planet and its
> resources so future generations do not find themselves in a
> wasteland.’
> The same theme was taken up by the UK Government, among
> other governments. In its Corporate Report: Economic
> development for shared prosperity and poverty reduction: a
> strategic framework4 published on 31 January 2014 by the
> Department for International Development (DfID), it stated:
> 
> Economic development is key to eradicating poverty.
> Accelerating progress is essential if the goal of zero
> extreme poverty by 2030 is to be achieved. The evidence
> is clear that this will require much higher growth rates in
> many countries, more inclusive growth — in particular
> for girls and women, and actions to tackle the structural
> barriers that deny poor people the chance to raise their
> incomes and find jobs.
> Shared Prosperity                                               201
> 
> The UK government can do more to help partner
> governments address the causes as well as the symptoms
> of poverty. This involves putting in place the building
> blocks that are crucial for countries to exit poverty:
> peace, the rule of law, property rights, stable business
> conditions, and honest and responsive governments,
> accountable to their citizens.
> 
> The Department for International Development’s
> (DFID) economic development strategic framework
> highlights the importance of the institutions that
> encourage private investment and export growth: free
> and fair markets; sound macroeconomic management;
> clear and consistently applied policies, regulations and
> laws; secure property rights; and functioning
> commercial courts.
> 
> The private sector is the engine of growth. Successful
> businesses drive growth, create jobs and pay the taxes
> that finance services and investment ...
> 
> The concept of shared prosperity as explained by the
> organizations above stands in contrast to a view held by much
> of civil society, an example of which is the left-wing New
> Economy Working Group5 whose agenda is to ‘Promote public
> values and policies that support an equitable distribution of
> money and real wealth to meet the needs of all.’
> 
> ‘Extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth,
> income and opportunity,’ it says, ‘undermines and
> distorts all that we care about — democracy and civic
> life, economic health and vitality, ecological balance,
> and physical health and culture. Moving toward greater
> equality is critical to building healthy, democratic, and
> economically sustainable communities. The solution is
> not simply raising the floor and alleviating poverty, but
> directly addressing the overconcentration of wealth.
> Our team promotes a broad analysis of the impact of
> 202                                            Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> extreme inequalities and advocates for far-reaching
> policy interventions that broaden prosperity and
> redistribute dangerous concentrations of wealth.’
> 
> It frames its key proposals for sharing prosperity thus:
> 
> According to market fundamentalists, equality is not an
> issue. Dismissing the issue of a finite ecosystem, they
> believe that poverty is best ended by growing the
> economy to bring up the bottom. If we lived in a world
> of endless resources and open frontiers, this might be a
> possibility. This, however, is not our reality. In the
> absence of a strong commitment to policies that
> maintain an equitable distribution of income,
> conventional economic growth increases the wealth gap
> even as it destroys the environment.
> 
> Effective corrective action       will   require   a   number     of
> approaches, including:
> o Income policies that assure every person access to an
> income adequate to meet basic needs and favour those
> who produce real value through productive work for
> example teachers, entrepreneurs, factory and service
> workers, family farmers, agricultural labourers, and
> hospital attendants — over those who profit from
> financial speculation and passive financial returns.
> o Progressive taxation and public spending policies that
> continuously recycle wealth from those who have far
> more than they need at the top to those at the bottom
> who lack access to the basic essentials of a secure and
> fulfilling life.
> o Equitable development policies. Land use and regional
> development policies that limit sprawl, support multi-
> strata development, and prevent geographical division
> by class and race and between affluent and blighted
> neighbourhoods.
> Shared Prosperity                                           203
> 
> o Broad participation in ownership and access to
> commonwealth. Work and ownership policies that
> minimize the class divide by encouraging every person to
> engage in productive work and to share in the benefits
> and responsibilities of ownership. Broad access to the
> shared wealth of the commons is also essential.
> The key concepts I derive from these reports and statements
> are:
> From World Bank:
> o the key elements of shared prosperity are economic
> growth and equity
> o without sustained economic growth, poor people are
> unlikely to increase their living standards
> o living standards are linked to economic growth and that
> growth must be sustained
> o promoting shared prosperity means ‘fostering income
> growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population in
> every country’
> From DIFD UK:
> o economic development is key to eradicating poverty
> o this will require much higher growth rates in many
> countries, more inclusive growth — in particular for girls
> and women, and actions to tackle the structural barriers
> that deny poor people the chance to raise their incomes
> and find jobs
> o The private sector is the engine of growth. Successful
> businesses drive growth, create jobs and pay the taxes
> that finance services and investment.
> From New Economy Working Group:
> 204                                           Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> o moving toward greater equality is critical to building
> healthy, democratic, and economically sustainable
> communities
> o the solution is not simply raising the floor and
> alleviating poverty, but directly addressing the over-
> concentration of wealth
> o it advocates for far-reaching policy interventions that
> broaden prosperity and redistribute dangerous
> concentrations of wealth
> Thus for all these agencies, prosperity is defined almost
> exclusively in terms of having enough money, or being enabled
> to find a way to access enough money, to buy enough goods
> and services to provide for one’s and one’s family’s needs.
> Shared prosperity is about money and enabling those without to
> have it or to have more, either by baking a bigger pie so that
> everyone can have a big enough piece to provide for his needs
> (economic growth) OR by transferring a proportion of the pie
> from those who have a large proportion to those who have
> none or hardly any. In both instances it is about getting money
> into the hands of people so that they can purchase the things
> they need to live, including basics such as food and shelter and
> healthcare, and the less tangible but still important ‘secure and
> fulfilling life’, ‘democracy and civic life’, ‘economic health and
> vitality’, ‘ecological balance’ and ‘culture’.
> Poverty is similarly defined as a lack of money or the things
> money can buy: as the Oxford Dictionary says, ‘The condition
> of having little or no wealth or material possessions; indigence,
> destitution, want (in various degrees)’. ‘Extreme poverty’ is
> defined as ‘living with less than $1.25 a day’.
> Using these definitions, the Save the Children report stated
> that ‘The Millennium Development Goals have lifted 600
> million people out of poverty ... the number of under-five
> deaths worldwide declined from nearly 12 million in 1990 to
> under 7 million in 2011, and an additional 56 million children
> Shared Prosperity                                            205
> 
> enrolled in primary school from 1999 to 2009’. For these
> institutions, the goal of shared prosperity is:
> o increasing the welfare of the poor and vulnerable
> o raising living standards
> o building healthy, democratic,          and   economically
> sustainable communities
> The ways to achieve these goals are:
> o sustained economic growth
> o sustainable growth that achieves the maximum possible
> increase in living standards of the less well-off (World
> Bank)
> o economic development
> o accelerated economic growth (DFID)
> o redistribution of wealth (NEWG)
> These institutions identify the building blocks that are crucial
> for countries to exit poverty as:
> o peace
> o the rule of law
> o property rights
> o stable business conditions
> o honest and responsive governments, accountable to their
> citizens
> They posit that the key elements that are required to eradicate
> poverty are:
> o social, economic, and institutional arrangements that
> foster welfare and income growth of the less well-off
> o generating jobs and economic opportunities
> 206                                            Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> o an investment in people, to promote growth and equity
> over time and across generations with the aim of
> creating an ‘opportunity society’
> o implementing policies that create equality
> o creating conditions that enable women to contribute to
> their fullest potential
> o fostering an inclusive society
> o engaging and developing the private sector
> o developing institutions that         encourage      private
> investment and export growth
> o improving international rules for shared prosperity
> These institution consider that the instigators, or protagonists,
> of development are:
> o government
> o the private sector
> o investors
> o policy-makers
> 
> The Bahá’í approach
> 
> Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live
> in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and
> requirements. [GWB 213]
> 
> Identifying the issue
> 
> While there is much congruence between the approach to
> shared prosperity of these organizations and that of the Bahá’í
> community, there are some key differences. Perhaps the most
> significant difference is in identifying what the core issue, or
> problem, actually is. The agencies described above, and many
> Shared Prosperity                                                         207
> 
> others like them, identify the core problem as poverty itself,
> which needs to be remedied urgently with a variety of measures
> including policy changes; transfers of wealth; educational,
> training and job opportunities; and economic growth. Bahá’ís,
> however, identify the core problem as something else entirely,
> requiring a completely different remedy:
> 
> We must not allow ourselves to forget the continuing,
> appalling burden of suffering under which millions of
> human beings are always groaning — a burden which
> they have bourne for century upon century and which it
> is the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh to lift at last. The principal
> cause of this suffering, which one can witness wherever
> one turns, is the corruption of human morals and the
> prevalence of prejudice, suspicion, hatred, untrust-
> worthiness, selfishness and tyranny among men. It is not
> merely material well-being that people need. What they
> desperately need is to know how to live their lives —
> they need to know who they are, to what purpose they
> exist, and how they should act towards one another;
> and, once they know the answers to these questions they
> need to be helped to gradually apply these answers to
> every-day behaviour. It is to the solution of this basic
> problem of mankind that the greater part of all our
> energy and resources should be directed ... [From a letter
> written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the National
> Spiritual Assembly of Italy, 19 November 1974]
> 
> Thus the Bahá’í approach identifies a failure of morals and
> ethics — which is a spiritual issue — as the principal cause of
> poverty. The approach taken by many of the agencies that are
> working to establish shared prosperity neglect or minimize the
> spiritual dimension of the human being and the effect this has
> on every aspect of individual and community life. The nature
> of the ‘problem’, meaning of shared prosperity, the nature of
> poverty, the way to address it and who the key protagonists and
> beneficiaries are, the nature of the human being, the nature of
> 208                                           Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> community and the ultimate purpose and goal of development
> — for most development agencies all these are cast in primarily
> in material terms, centring on material wealth and well-being,
> while the Bahá’ís see these as primarily spiritual issues at their
> root which require an understanding of the spiritual nature and
> purpose of the human being to effectively and sustainably
> address these material aspects of human life. That is, if the
> spiritual, ethical, moral dimension of the human experience is
> not addressed and corrected, if people do not understand the
> purpose of their lives, then efforts to improve the well-being of
> those in need, to lift them out of poverty, to extend the
> material benefits of the world to them, will not, ultimately,
> succeed, as the reasons why people are in this condition will not
> have changed: they will still be subject to ‘prejudice, suspicion,
> hatred, untrustworthiness, selfishness and tyranny’. People will
> still exploit them, harm them, treat them unjustly — a condition
> which exists for many people who live in the wealthiest parts of
> the world.
> 
> Material and spiritual measures required
> 
> The Bahá’í International Community (BIC), the international
> NGO representing the worldwide Bahá’í community in global
> fora such as the United Nations, has for decades researched the
> Bahá’í teachings that inform Bahá’í thinking on current issues,
> including the economy, the prosperity of humankind and the
> eradication of extreme poverty. It has identified a number of
> principles and themes from the Bahá’í writings that bear on
> these complex issues. Far from being a set of theoretical, noble
> ideas, the insights offered by the Bahá’ís are born out of their
> experience of applying Bahá’í principles and teachings to their
> own reality. Bahá’ís are still in a ‘learning mode’ concerning
> these issues and are cautiously applying their learning and
> understanding to their own communities at the neighbourhood
> and local levels. What they have learned so far is that both
> material and spiritual measures are required to create shared
> prosperity.
> Shared Prosperity                                              209
> 
> The Bahá’í community sees all the issues of the day as
> interrelated and requiring a holistic approach to their
> resolution, including ‘an organic change in the structure of
> present-day society’ [WOB 42]. It does not accept what it
> considers to be the ‘erroneous belief that those with power and
> resources already possess everything needed for society to
> thrive’ [BIC Document #12-1412]. It takes a nuanced approach to
> shared prosperity and poverty, does not seek simplistic answers
> nor does it offer any. It takes into account not just the physical
> and material aspects of human life but also the cultural, the
> emotional, the psychological and the ineffable. Viewed from
> this perspective, the current world situation is ‘rooted’ in the
> destructive ‘values and attitudes that shape relationships at all
> levels of society’, while ‘poverty can be described as the
> absence of those ethical, social and material resources needed to
> develop the moral, intellectual and social capacities of
> individuals, communities and institutions’ [BIC Document #08-
> 0214].
> 
> The Bahá’í International Community confirms that a lack of
> material wealth creates personal suffering, damages individuals
> and communities and is a major obstacle to peace: ‘To be sure,
> material wealth is of critical importance to the achievement of
> individual and collective goals; by the same token, a strong
> economy is a key component of a vibrant social order’ [BIC
> Document #12-0201. At the same time, as noted above, it
> considers that the materialistic world view does not capture the
> totality of human experience and that the real causes of poverty
> cannot be conceived terms of a lack of material wealth alone.
> The Bahá’í Office of Social and Economic Development
> points out:
> 
> To seek coherence between the spiritual and the material
> does not imply that the material goals of development
> are to be trivialized. It does require, however, the
> rejection of approaches to development which define it
> as the transfer to all societies of the ideological
> 210                                             Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> convictions, the social structures, the economic
> practices, the models of governance — in the final
> analysis, the very patterns of life — prevalent in certain
> highly industrialized regions of the world. [OSED, Social
> Action]
> 
> Thus the Bahá’í approach to shared prosperity is not the
> transfer of ideas or things from one community to another but
> a complete rethinking of the nature of prosperity, of the human
> being, of development and of civilization itself. That
> rethinking is to be informed by the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the
> founder of the Bahá’í Faith.
> 
> Rethinking Prosperity
> 
> The Bahá’í community casts the concept of prosperity as a
> matter of justice and the realignment of values:
> 
> Divine justice will become manifest in human
> conditions and affairs, and all mankind will find
> comfort and enjoyment in life ... in the aggregate
> community there will be equalization and readjustment
> of values and interests. In the future there will be no
> very rich nor extremely poor. There will be an
> equilibrium of interests, and a condition will be
> established which will make both rich and poor
> comfortable and content. [PUP 132]
> 
> Prosperity is seen as an aspect of the ‘ever-advancing
> civilization’ which Bahá’u’lláh indicates ‘all men have been
> created to carry forward’. [GWB 215] Such a civilization
> requires:
> 
> ... the articulation of a vibrant and compelling vision of
> human prosperity at its widest and most inclusive. Such
> a vision must address the need for harmony between
> varying aspects of development (cultural, technological,
> economic, social, moral, spiritual), and must give rise to
> Shared Prosperity                                               211
> 
> a widely-shared sense of common purpose. This
> approach, based in a recognition of the capacity and
> responsibility of all to contribute to a better world
> transcends us/them patterns of thought that divide the
> world into ‘haves’ who grant opportunities for
> participation to the ‘have nots’. [BIC Document #12-1412]
> 
> The task of creating such prosperity is more than ‘appeals
> for action against the countless ills afflicting society. It must
> be galvanized by a vision of human prosperity in the fullest
> sense of the term — an awakening to the possibilities of the
> spiritual and material well-being now brought within grasp.’
> [BIC Document #95-0303]
> 
> Rethinking the nature of the human being
> 
> Fundamental to an understanding of the Bahá’í approach to
> shared prosperity and development is its concept of the nature
> of the human being. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son Bahá’u’lláh, affirms
> that ‘there are two natures in man: the physical nature and the
> spiritual nature’ [SAQ 118] but that the enduring, eternal,
> essential reality of the human being is spiritual [‘Abdu’l-Bahá in
> BWF 262-3], that ‘Man is, in reality, a spiritual being’. [PT 72]
> Bahá’u’lláh asserts that the human being a ‘mine rich in gems of
> inestimable value’ that are to be dedicated to the service of
> humanity. [GWB 260]
> Thus any vision of shared prosperity and development must
> be responsive to the reality of the spiritual nature of the human
> being. The prevailing theories and practices of development,
> however, tend to promote the satisfying of people’s material
> ambitions over their spiritual goals. It is the purpose of Bahá’í
> development processes to achieve shared prosperity to reverse
> this balance.
> 212                                              Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> Rethinking Development
> 
> Bahá’ís believe that ‘Every member of the human family has
> not only the right to benefit from a materially and spiritually
> prosperous civilization’ but also that such a civilization will
> ‘not emerge through the efforts exerted by a select group of
> nations or even a network of national and international
> agencies’. Rather, Bahá’ís understand that ‘the challenge must
> be faced by all of humanity’ and that every person has an
> ‘obligation to contribute’ towards the construction of that
> civilization’. ‘Social action should operate, then, on the
> principle of universal participation.’ [OSED, Social Action]
> 
> Bahá’ís see the purpose of development as contributing
> to the foundation for a new social and international
> order, capable of creating and sustaining conditions in
> which human beings can advance morally, culturally, and
> intellectually.
> 
> This purpose is rooted in the understanding that the
> transformation of society will involve profound changes
> in the individual as well as the deliberate and systematic
> re-creation of social structures.
> 
> Social change is not a project that one group of people
> carries out for the benefit of another. Enduring change
> depends upon coherent efforts to transform both the
> individual and society. Social change is neither the result
> of ‘upgrading the individual’ nor is it the result of an
> exclusive focus on reforming social and political
> structures. [BIC Document #11-0422]
> 
> Rethinking Capacity-Building
> 
> Thus a key component of development is capacity-building
> within a population so that local people can develop the
> attitudes, knowledge and skills that will enable them to address
> the issues that affect them and then apply the most appropriate
> Shared Prosperity                                             213
> 
> measures to effect change for themselves. Central to the Bahá’í
> concept of capacity-building is that ‘activities should start on a
> modest scale and only grow in complexity in keeping with
> available human resources’ [Social Action]. This is very different
> from the practice of outside agencies providing communities
> with services such as water systems and schools, or individuals
> with loans and clothing. When viewed from a popular
> perspective, the Bahá’í approach of gradually building the
> capacity within a local community to create its own services
> and systems seems painfully slow and almost unfair, apparently
> depriving people from the very things that will enable them to
> progress quickly or to save lives. Yet it has often been seen that
> by focusing only on providing people with goods and services,
> the very people who should be the protagonists of development
> are disempowered and become dependent on outside agencies.
> While the goals of improving people’s lives and their living
> conditions are important, to sustain that improvement by
> enabling people ‘to contribute significantly to their own
> progress’ [Social Action] is the fundamental goal of development
> for Bahá’ís.
> For Bahá’ís, the sequence of courses provided by the Ruhi
> Institute has proved to be a most effective way to build
> capacity gradually in individuals and in communities and to
> transfer these capacities to institutions.
> 
> Rethinking Work
> 
> The concept of work, too, is recast by the Bahá’í approach
> such that it is not merely a means towards material ends:
> 
> Work needs to be seen not only as a means to securing
> an individual and family’s basic needs, but also as a
> channel to developing one’s craft, refining one’s
> character, and contributing to the welfare and progress
> of society. Work, no matter how humble and simple,
> when performed with an attitude of service, is a means
> 214                                           Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> to contribute to the advancement of our communities,
> countries and global society. [BIC Document #07-0211]
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh Himself lifted work to the station of worship:
> 
> It is incumbent upon each one of you to engage in some
> occupation — such as a craft, a trade or the like. We
> have exalted your engagement in such work to the rank
> of worship of the one true God. [KA v. 33]
> 
> The significant of this concept for shared prosperity is
> enormous, with implications for the economy as a whole; how
> business operates, recruits and trains employees, and deals with
> all stakeholders in a community; the shape of work within an
> enterprise; and who the key players are in an enterprise and how
> they are to be remunerated.
> 
> Rethinking civilization
> 
> As we have seen, Bahá’u’lláh states that humanity has been
> created to advance civilization and lists the attributes that
> people are to have in order to accomplish this:
> 
> All men have been created to carry forward an
> ever-advancing civilization. The Almighty beareth Me
> witness: To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy
> of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are
> forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness
> towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth. [GWB
> 215]
> 
> The nature of the civilization that is to be carried forward,
> however, is not merely a material one, as many might think.
> Bahá’ís recognize that many aspects of today’s civilization do
> not benefit people and are even dangerous and harmful to
> individuals and humanity as a whole. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote:
> Shared Prosperity                                               215
> 
> ...    until      material    achievements,      physical
> accomplishments and human virtues are reinforced by
> spiritual    perfections,   luminous     qualities   and
> characteristics of mercy, no fruit or result shall issue
> therefrom, nor will the happiness of the world of
> humanity, which is the ultimate aim, be attained. For
> although, on the one hand, material achievements and
> the development of the physical world produce
> prosperity, which exquisitely manifests its intended
> aims, on the other hand dangers, severe calamities and
> violent afflictions are imminent. [SWAB 283-4]
> 
> Further, what Bahá’ís anticipate is what Shoghi Effendi, head
> of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 to 1957, identifies as the ‘birth
> and efflorescence of a world civilization’ [CF 6, emphasis mine],
> not the extension of a western, Asian or other regional one, a
> civilization that is ‘the child’ of the Most Great Peace. Such a
> civilization is, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes, a product of the spiritual
> quality ‘love’:
> 
> Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of
> mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this
> mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory
> upon every high-aiming race and nation. [SWAB 27]
> 
> The birth of such a civilization is a far-distant expectation
> for Bahá’ís, who consider its establishment ‘as the furthermost
> limits in the organization of human society’ along with the
> ‘emergence of a world community, the consciousness of world
> citizenship’ and ‘the founding of a world ... culture’. [WO 163]
> Nevertheless, Bahá’ís claim that it is the efforts that humanity
> makes today to realign its values, morals and the material
> welfare that derive from these that will begin the process of
> building that civilization.
> 216                                            Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> The goal of shared prosperity
> 
> For Bahá’ís the goal of shared prosperity is: ‘a just, peaceful
> and sustainable society’, which provides a ‘harmonious dynamic
> between the material and non-material (or moral) dimensions’
> of human life, which has at its base the fundamental truth of
> the equality of women and men and which incorporates ‘the
> generation of knowledge, the cultivation of trust and
> trustworthiness, eradication of racism and violence, promotion
> of art, beauty, science, and the capacity for collaboration and
> the peaceful resolution of conflicts’. [BIC Document #10-0503]
> Bahá’ís believe that ways to achieve these goals are, on the
> one hand,
> o to incorporate ‘all people, regardless of material wealth,
> into the advancement of civilization’
> o to articulate ‘a vibrant and compelling vision of human
> prosperity at its widest and most inclusive’
> o to ensure the ‘harmony between varying aspects of
> development (cultural, technological, economic, social,
> moral, spiritual) so as to embed ‘a widely-shared sense of
> common purpose’ [BIC Document #12-1412]
> and, on the other,
> o to recognize that ‘a flourishing society cannot be built
> by the materially wealthy on behalf of the materially
> poor’
> o to reexamine and redesign social and economic
> ‘structures, which have contributed to the exclusion of
> the materially poor’
> o to genuinely reassess ‘the distribution of power and
> wealth’, and to recognize and recast ‘the inherent
> relationship between the extremes of wealth and
> poverty’
> Shared Prosperity                                                      217
> 
> o to reframe ‘progress’ in ‘terms of the harmony between
> the moral and material dimensions of human life’ [BIC
> Document #12-1412]
> 
> Bahá’ís identify the building blocks that are crucial for
> countries and people to exit poverty as:
> o peace
> o unity
> o trustworthiness [BIC Document #05-1002]
> o the freedom of conscience, thought, and religion [BIC
> Document #05-1002]
> 
> o justice as the organizing principle of society [BIC
> Document #95-0303]
> 
> o the elimination of the extremes of poverty and wealth
> [Shoghi Effendi, ‘The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh’] through such
> measures as taxation, fair pay and education
> o the establishment of human rights and responsibilities,
> with a balance struck between the preservation of
> individual freedom and the promotion of the collective
> good [BIC Document #12-1012]
> o the equality of women and men [BIC Doc #12-0227]
> o the rule of law
> o constitutional and democratic government
> o the protection of human rights
> o economic development
> o religious tolerance
> o the promotion of useful sciences and technologies
> o   programmes of public welfare [all the above, The Universal
> House of Justice, 26 November 2003, citing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, SDC]
> 218                                               Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> The Bahá’ís posit that the key elements for the eradication of
> poverty are:
> o   a recognition of the oneness of humanity [BIC Doc #05-
> 1002]
> 
> o a coherent relationship between the material and
> spiritual dimensions of human life [BIC Doc #12-0201]
> o recognition that every individual has a contribution to
> make to the betterment of society [BIC Doc #12-0201]
> o the ethic of reciprocity: an understanding that the
> interests of the individual and of the wider community
> are inextricably linked [BIC Doc #11-0118]
> o voluntary sharing [‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablet to the Hague]
> o consultation as the basic tool of decision-making and
> learning [BIC Docs #12-0620 and #10-0503]
> o deliberate and conscious changes in individual choices
> and in institutional structures and norms [BIC Doc #10-
> 0503]
> 
> o universal education [The Universal House of Justice, 26
> November 2003]
> 
> The Bahá’ís consider that the primary instigators, or
> protagonists, of development are:
> o ‘the people themselves’
> o communities
> o institutions
> as ‘the responsibility lies with society — its communities and
> social institutions — to make it possible for all people to
> contribute their energies and talents to the construction of a
> more just and equitable global community. [BIC Document #:12-
> 1412]
> Shared Prosperity                                                219
> 
> For Bahá’ís, the beneficiaries of shared prosperity, of
> development, are not just the materially poor or those already
> wealthy who wish to capitalize on new markets, exploit an
> emerging workforce or patent traditional resources for their
> own gain:
> 
> Its beneficiaries must be all of the planet’s inhabitants,
> without distinction, without the imposition of
> conditions unrelated to the fundamental goals of such a
> reorganization of human affairs. [BIC Document #95-0303]
> 
> Conclusion
> 
> From the Bahá’í perspective, shared prosperity is more than
> the amelioration of material deprivation, profound as that is. It
> is not the transfer of goods, services, finances, knowledge,
> technology and ideas from one community to another, nor is it
> a project that one group of people carries out for the benefit
> of another. It requires the development of a new mindset, one
> that does not polarize people, making one set victims and
> another the rescuers, but instead sees the whole world as one
> community, one family. Every person is a participant in the
> establishment of shared prosperity, which develops as
> individuals, communities and their institutions acquire the
> capacities, attitudes and skills that equip them to tackle the
> main drivers of poverty and human suffering: ‘the corruption
> of human morals and the prevalence of prejudice, suspicion,
> hatred, untrustworthiness, selfishness and tyranny among men’.
> Shared prosperity, then might be defined as a global
> condition in which every person contributes to the building and
> maintenance of an ever-advancing, new civilization in which
> their collective creativity, energy, love, compassion,
> knowledge, intellects, spiritual and moral values, talents,
> learning and resources are pooled to provide a just, peaceful,
> equitable, safe, united, fulfilling, stimulating, beautiful,
> intelligent, nurturing and learning environment which benefits
> 220                                             Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
> everyone, protects and sustains the planet and enables them to
> live long, healthy, happy, productive lives in service to one
> another, in love for humanity.
> 
> BIBLIOGRAPHY
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> Shared Prosperity                                                    221
> 
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> 222                                                   Lights of Irfán vol. 16
> 
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> 
> NOTES
> http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/ending-
> poverty-our-generation
> http://www.nation.com.pk/islamabad/09-Jan-2013/un-plan-sought-to-
> eradicate-extreme-poverty-by-2030
> http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/05/08/shared-
> prosperity-goal-for-changing-world
> https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-development-
> for-shared-prosperity-and-poverty-reduction-a-strategic-framework
> http://www.neweconomyworkinggroup.org/visions/shared-prosperity
>
> — *Shared Prosperity: How Does That Work? (Used by permission of the curator)*