A key component of their work was founded on the basic tenet that the essence of humankind is spiritual and that helping individuals acquire spiritual attributes would lead to the advancement of civilization. From these roots the Ruhi Foundation (named after Farzam Arbab's father and Dr. David Ruhe,) evolved as part of a wider process of community building among the Baháʼís in Colombia centered first in the town of Puerto Tejada, near Cali in the department of Cauca. The Ruhi Institute eventually fell under the guidance of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼí Faith in Colombia. Since 1992 it has been registered as the “Ruhí Foundation,” a legally independent non-profit organisation. Ruhi courses appeared in a wide range of study circles in various other countries. Early participants provided feedback to the authors and then over several years the first official release of books took place. As a result, materials include examples from several cultures which helps diverse participants relate to some of the cultural content of the materials. Since the late 1990s the Ruhi institute process has developed as an additional way to advance communities. The current head of the religion, the Universal House of Justice, has noted the progress of the work since the early 2000s. They mentioned that “the great majority of National Spiritual Assemblies have chosen to adopt the course materials devised by the Ruhi Institute.” Especially in recent years, its training programs have been adopted by an increasing number of localities worldwide, promoting a "culture of learning" among its participants. By 2012 the Ruhiresources.org web site—operated by volunteers who are Ruhi tutors—allowed Ruhi tutor-created materials to be freely shared. The goal of the Ruhi Institute courses is to "evoke a transformative learning experience through a learner-centered, experiential, and collaborative approach facilitated by a tutor rather than an instructor, a teacher, or an expert." Academics have identified the practice as an instance of praxeology. The tutor roles "refer to functions we perform at a given time and not to positions we (sic) hold in the community.'" Indeed Ruhi restructures societal norms, roles, and goals of education "…to re-vision societal images and systems of education as part of the design of new systems of learning and human development that are consonant with the emerging global world-view." The courses are designed to be run with organically developed groups of learners, using "critical reflection, interactive thinking, activities designed to transform theory into practical action".