Baháʼí leadership envisioned a holistic process of education reflecting on "civilization and progress – that is to say, government, administration, charitable works, trades, arts and handicrafts, sciences, great inventions and discoveries and elaborate institutions, which are the activities essential to man” and "the education of all members of society." Arbab, Correa, and de Valcarcel first established FUNDAEC in Colombia to express such goals in a new curriculum in the 1970s. 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.