Clusters at the next level of development, characterized in the 9 January message as having “a few isolated localities and groups,” often encompass a broad spectrum of Bahá’í activity, depending on the country, the history of growth in the cluster, and whether the area is rural or urban.

Two different conditions have predominated in this category. There are a number of clusters that experienced large-scale growth in the past but had no functioning Local Spiritual Assemblies and very few active believes. Also prevalent are clusters that had, in addition to isolated localities and groups, functioning Local Assemblies, some with only basic capacity and others with longstanding experience and active communities, but with minimal or no institute activity. The general approach in both these types of clusters has been to strengthen the institute process, but the means and pace have differed according to their particular circumstances.