Category: Blog

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Fernanda Gomes, GSA 2017, has a hypothesis for change: investing in the administrative and accounting structure of social and cultural initiatives directly influences their impact on the territories.

Accounting issues prevent community leaders from accessing public and private financing, just to give one example among many problems that can arise. And one thing leads to another.

Without money to carry out activities, projects become fragile, and some even end their operations. A groundbreaking survey conducted by the Elos Institute in Baixada Santista showed that 61% of the grassroots partner organizations in our work do not have a bank account. And nearly half, 48%, do not even have a CNPJ (Company Tax ID).

Therefore, Fernanda conceived “Associa as Ações” (Association of Actions), which she leads alongside three other individuals: Pedro Gabriel, Mariana Behr, and Vitória Santos. Only Gabriel hasn’t participated in the GSA Program.

She and her team are developing a methodology to identify and regularize such issues, while building processes and workflows to avoid long-term structural administrative problems in grassroots organizations.

In the pilot phase, supported by Jovens Ideias, Associa as Ações received 11 applications for consultancy and selected 5 organizations for this initial phase.

When the Elos Institute conducted a survey within the GSA Community, which refers to people who have gone through the Guerreiros Sem Armas (GSA) Program, it discovered, among other things, the need to closely support ideas that were somehow inspired by the Elos Philosophy and were emerging among the more than 640 participants scattered around the world.

The majority of these ideas face the challenge of financing, whether due to being in the initial stage – prototype or pilot – or due to the complexity of the language used in calls for proposals.

Fernanda is one of the eight individuals who have been through the GSA Program and are receiving technical and financial support from the Elos Institute to prototype, structure, and systematize their theory of change. More than just funding a one-time action, the objective of Jovens Ideias, as we call this strategy, is to create a secure environment where popular social technologies that address real territorial needs can emerge. This is the case with Associa as Ações.

“For me, participating in this selection process was very rewarding because it’s the only way we can achieve our dream of becoming a regulated community,” explains Carmelita Danúbia, leader of Vila dos Criadores, one of the selected projects.

In addition to her, the Unificação das Quebradas, Associação de capoeira Pelourinho arte cultura esporte Brasil, Grupo Lazer e Cidadania de Cubatão, Associação Comunitária de Moradores do Morro do Pacheco, and Associação de Melhoramentos da Vila dos Criadores, all from Santos, will receive consultancy.

Apart from addressing fiscal and accounting issues, including covering necessary documentation costs, Associa as Ações offers management workshops for the third sector and the development of visual identity for the 5 selected projects.

Beyond Associa as Ações, Jovens Ideias also supports Laboratório de Criação (Salvador, BA), Saberes do Povo do Remanso (Lençóis, BA), Cocriando TRANSformações (Campinas, SP), Associa as Ações (São Vicente, SP), Quilombo GSA – Tereza de Benguela (national), Colorindo a Quebrada com Poesia (national), Museu dos Sonhos Vivos (Recife, PE), and Fim de Semana no Parque (Cubatão, SP).

This article was translated by Antonio Oliveira, a volunteer participant in the Translation Community at Instituto Elos.

Read it in Portuguese here.
Read it in Spanish here.

An unpublished research conducted by Instituto Elos reveals that 65% of the leaders connected to our work in Baixada Santista dedicate themselves daily to work in their territories. Additionally, 52% of the interviewed leaders do not receive professional psychological support. Considering this, we organized opportunities for exchange on the topic of mental health with partner territories. That’s what happened in Vila Esperança on June 24.

As you already know, Instituto Elos worked with residents in Vila Esperança over the last year, strengthening the development of collective dreams of transformation. One of the outcomes of this work was the renovation of the headquarters of the De Bem com Mangue Association. You can read the full story here. This time, the local leaders welcomed the group from “Mental Health and Care – sociocultural, ethical, and political aspects,” an extension project from the Federal University of São Paulo – UNIFESP.

The group of students got to know the new space and learned more about the activities planned for the second semester. One of the exchanges took place with Francisca, a young writer from Vila Esperança. She is only 10 years old and has just released her first book.

The extension project seeks to promote spaces for exchange and discussions with territorial leaders about the practice of care in various layers of life. This theme is even more urgent for those who take care of so many others, such as community leaders. For this reason, they gathered the people in a circle and sought to name the topic based on the experiences and lived realities present there.

Juliana Gomides, one of the team members who closely accompanied Vila Esperança in recent months, summarizes one of the significant learnings of the day: “The conversation was incredible, and we realized that, in practice, caring here means living in community,” she says.

“The experience of getting to know the space and the different areas of action was incredible, enriching, and inspiring,” says Luiza Escardovelli, a student who is part of the extension group. She was particularly moved by something she heard amidst the ongoing conversations.

“One of the participants in the circle shared a phrase that is still echoing in me: ‘We are families that take care of families.’ This showed me the common and strengthened power of communities,” she reveals. Luiz also celebrates the presence of children throughout the meeting, as they, too, have to deal with many things at the same time. The meeting ended with a beautiful feijoada, shared by all the people in the circle.

Every year, at the end of each GSA Program, Instituto Elos provides follow-up and support to the territories that host the program. With an average duration of one year, during this time, local leaders have regular meetings with institutional facilitators who support various challenges.

This article was voluntarily translated by Eloísa Ferré, a member of the Elos Translation Community.

Read it in Portuguese here.
Read it in Spanish here.

Jovens Ideias, as you know, is the call for supporting socio-environmental transformation projects led by those who have gone through the GSA Program, a community of more than 640 people in 57 countries. Instituto Elos’ strategy is to start by supporting those in Brazil and then expand further.

In 2023, in its debut edition, 8 proposals are receiving financial investment and technical support to set their activities and theories of change in motion across the country. One of the main objectives is to support the systematization of these ideas for change. In addition to exchanges among themselves, the GSA Leaders receive experts for inspiring encounters. That’s what happened on the last 4th, when they discussed the challenges of communicating social impact, especially in specific territories. The meeting was facilitated by Ronaldo Matos, a researcher, journalist, and educator.

Read the report about the young idea of Mirian Fonseca by clicking here.

Ronaldo, one of the co-founders of “Desenrola e Não Me Enrola,” a collective that thinks and produces communication from the peripheries and favelas of the southern zone of São Paulo, is one of the most important scholars on the subject and knows, like few others, how to create communication that connects with people’s lives and paths. For a little over two hours, he shared what he has been discovering and doing. He brought a decolonial perspective of communication to the center of the conversation.

“Communicating,” he argues, “is about building connections.” And this cannot be done without considering the perspectives, backgrounds, and language of those who will receive the stories we want to tell. To bring ideas into practice, Ronaldo transformed a multitude of concepts into experiments and experiences. In exercises. The mind understands, but the body lives the knowledge.

“You can see,” he said almost at the end of the meeting, “we started with a movement to get to know our audiences better. Then it was necessary to learn more about our territories, as they are unique and living organisms. We continue to evaluate possible strategies to reach people’s paths, connecting this with the possibility of revising our narrative since we engage with different people. And finally, we collaborate with other groups that do similar things to us.”

Ronaldo thinks of communication beyond the story, the platform, or the content itself. For him, establishing dialogues with projects that came before, that paved the way, is as important as making art or producing promotional videos for the activities.

“What we discussed here is part of something bigger, which is developing a culture of analyzing data and contexts to make decisions. It may seem boring and laborious, but it’s a necessary process if we want to systematically transform our communities,” he says. In other words, we can and need to trust our intuitions, but it doesn’t hurt to surround ourselves with data and information to think about more strategic movements.

In addition to the Creation Laboratory, Jovens Ideias supports Saberes do Povo do Remanso (Lençóis, BA), Cocriando TRANSformações (Campinas, SP), Associa as Ações (São Vicente, SP), Quilombo GSA – Tereza de Benguela (national), Colorindo a Quebrada com Poesia (national), Museu dos Sonhos Vivos (Recife, PE), and Fim de Semana no Parque (Cubatão, SP).

This article was translated by Izadora Silva, a volunteer participant in the Translation Community at Instituto Elos.

By saying that, Mirian points out a request for care and welcoming from the funders with whom it is at the beginning of its journey in the world of projects. 2019 GSA Warrior, she is from Lauro de Freitas and currently lives in Salvador, Bahia. She is one of the eight supported by Young Ideas in 2023.

When the Elos Institute ran a survey with the GSA Community, which is how we call those who went through some edition of GSA Warriors, it discovered, among many things, it was necessary to support more closely, ideas that it was inspired by the Elos Philosophy in some way, that sprang among the more than 600 participants from all around the world.

Most of these ideas faced the challenge of funding, whether because it was in the initial phase, or because of the complexity of the language of the edicts.

More than supporting a one-off action or a project in the GSA leadership community, Young Ideas is the search for a safe environment in which people can test their hypotheses of transformation. That is, technical and financial support to research, elaborate, design, test, make mistakes if necessary, in search of the best versions of a project.

We want to encourage the development of emerging social technologies. And we can’t do that without a support network. This is the case with Mirian’s work.

“When I left the GSA, I drew my Path of Expansion thinking about how to use the Elos Methodology to draw a theatrical spectacle or artistic creation processes,” she explains. She holds a degree in Theater Direction from the Theater School of the Federal University of Bahia and she has at least 11 years of experience in community mobilization and development of collaborative projects.

She thought that it would be possible, of course, to use what she learned in other contexts, and that was how the Creation Laboratory was born, an initiative that uses the dimensions of the Elos Methodology (Potential, Belonging and Protagonism) to map resources, talents and dreams focusing on the restructuring and institutional repositioning of cultural collectives. The pilot project, supported by the so-called Young Ideas, will be held with the oCartel, a group of black artists from the peripheries of Salvador.

“When we ask what are the dreams of a group, we can map what we need to ask for in an edict, for example,” says Mirian. Who thus points out a little of how she intends to sew the relationship of the Elos Philosophy with the Creation Laboratory.

“Many times we can’t even have a close look at our network,” she says. One of the initiative stages is precisely this investigation of talents and resources that are close, and that we barely trigger in our daily lives.

The linear and often distant way of investigating, organizing and structuring collective powers leaves the scene, to enter another way of addressing institutional challenges, especially in cultural collectives. A more horizontal, a more collective way. In addition to supporting the group to advance to another moment of its existence and its work, the Creation Laboratory – Cartel Edition foresees a series of artistic deliveries.

Inspiring and very powerful, Mirian’s project is one of 8 proposals supported by the Elos Institute in 2023. In addition to the Creation Laboratory, Young Ideas supports the Knowledge of the People of Remanso (Lençóis, BA), Co-creating TRANSformations (Campinas, SP), Associates Actions (São Vicente, SP), Quilombo GSA – Tereza de Benguela (national), Coloring the Quebrada with Poetry (national), Museum of Living Dreams (Recife, PE) and the Weekend in the Park (Cubatão, SP).

This article was translated by Israel Carvalho, a volunteer participant in the Translation Community at Instituto Elos.

First, it is necessary to say that the phrase above is from Mariana Felippe, one of the territory articulation network managers, which is: the meeting of leaderships of Baixada Santista with whom we work today or at some previous time. On Saturday, the 27th, this group got together for the first time this year. There were 26 people, from 5 cities: Santos, Cubatão, Praia Grande, Guarujá and Peruíbe.

“We want to build a safe space in which leaders can exchange with each other what they know and what they are doing”, explains Natasha Mendes Gabriel, Movement coordinator, area in charge of this project within the Elos Institute.

She says that these people, who are every day on the front line of social work, face similar challenges, go through similar situations and often don’t have a place to talk about it, to exchange about it. And this is where Mariana comes in, again.

“We can notice”, she says, “that there is a very strong feeling of loneliness among these leaders. They do a lot of things on their own, feel that there is no recognition of their work or that people do not fully understand what they are doing. In addition, there is a lot of pressure coming from all sides. Who supports it?”, analyses Mariana. That is why and for that reason that this work of articulation with territories of Baixada Santista exists, she explains:

“When we are together we can share the pains, the challenges and the solutions that each place has found. You have to bring people together to let them know that they are not alone in doing what they do”.

This project was born from a survey by the Elos Institute, still in 2022. At the time, the Movement area interviewed leaders to draw up profiles, understand the nature of their works, the challenges of each territory and how the Elos Institute could be a strategic ally in the medium and long term.

Having a space for exchange and development appeared as a necessity during the interviews. The study will be told soon around here.  

Nobody knows more, we know differently

“The meeting was very important for me”, says Elizabeth Alves. She has lived in Vila Israel for 8 years, one of the first residents of the place. “It’s important to tell what we’re doing, but also to listen to what other communities are doing, you know. This way, we learn from each other”.  José Domingos thinks very similarly, take a look:

“Because you can bring an idea that you heard there at the meeting to your home, which will contribute there in your territory. Oftentimes you are working in one direction, then you discover that it is not the best one at times like these”. Domingos, who has lived in Pilões for 22 years, says that “Elos does this very well, by bringing leaders together to talk. Elos is like a bridge”. We like that image, Domingos.

In addition to Vila Israel and Pilões, the meeting was attended by leaders from Vila Pantanal, Vila Dos Criadores, Monte Serrat, Vila Esperança, Instituto Novos Sonhos, Biblioteca Comunitária Conto de Fadas Periférico (Peripheral Fairytale Community Library), Editora Periferia tem Palavra and Coletivo de Mulheres Caiçaras (Collective of Caiçaras Women).

Next Moves
The meetings will be regular, from now until December. For the next one, the Elos Institute will detail what it has discovered with the community survey. It will also be the time to map the common interests for the construction of an agenda of studies and exchanges throughout the year.

This article was translated by Fernanda Paula Razini, a volunteer participant in the Translation Community at Instituto Elos.

It is Juliana Campos who explains that participation in councils is as challenging as it is fundamental to guarantee that public policies really talk to people’s needs. She is one of the people who occupies a space in the councils, from the Elos Institute on.

Councils are spaces that discuss, supervise, and suggest improvements in an area of public service, for example, in Health. Being part of it means that you will get together from time to time with several people to discuss if everything is working as it should in your city. And if not, how you can change it. People representing the government and civil society participate in the councils. In other words, governors, and you and me, people who have a direct interest in the subject, who use that service.

“Councils are spaces for tensioning, in the sense of bringing about difficult conversations of the model or functioning of a policy,” Juliana says. “Because the idea is that you meet there from the person who uses the service to a representative of the Public Ministry, for example. Everybody together.” In practice, she explains, this helps society to ask for changes or suggest new ideas. In some cases, even to report a problem.

Ideally, she argues, we should be able to guarantee conditions for the population to be in these places. However, this is not what happens. Juliana says that, many times, the meetings take place at times when the leaders can’t go. As the Elos Institute works in partnership with many territories, participating in councils is one of the ways to ensure that the needs of these places and people are considered, taken into account.

“We have some clues of the challenges and needs that exist because of our proximity, but also because of actions like the research we did. So, I see that it is also up to us to take these points to these places,” she argues.

Our work is explained like this: we are a social education organization that strengthens the capacity of people to transform their reality. In other words, we build the environment and the conditions for people to be protagonists of their own history. Stimulating the occupation of councils is one of the many ways to do this.

“Our work gains more strength and becomes more efficient when we manage to link it to larger contexts, such as public policies,” argues Juliana. “After going to a community and supporting the construction of stilt houses, for example, it is important that we open a channel where these residents can sit down with the public authorities to think about the next steps”. The name Elos is not by chance, as we can see.

Besides the Municipal Council of Social Assistance, in which Juliana participates, the Elos Institute takes part in other articulations inside and outside public decision-making spaces.