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The Elos Methodology creates the conditions for public policy, social investment, technical expertise and local leadership to come together and produce participatory, legitimate and sustainable solutions.
The relationship between an organisation and a region cannot be resolved through investment alone. It is resolved by listening, and listening cannot be improvised.
We work at the intersection of corporate interests and community interests, building relationships and initiatives that are legitimate for both sides. The market calls this a social licence to operate. For us, it is not won through a campaign: it grows out of listening and real bonds between the community and the company.
And there is one condition: we do not meet corporate demands that are not in line with what the community wants for itself. Our job is to ensure that the organisation observes, listens to and learns from the local area. It is precisely for this reason that corporate interests are met, and that the relationship comes to be sustained by local forces alone.
Where do we come in?
Four options, depending on your organisation’s needs.
Our consultancy service is the practical application of the Elos Methodology, which aims to bring about a shift from a paradigm of scarcity to a culture of abundance, in partnership with businesses, governments and other institutions. All our programmes incorporate the methodology in its entirety.
understand before deciding where to invest
Intelligence and Relational Infrastructure
A diagnosis and plan that address real problems, whilst building on existing potential and resources already in place. The picture reveals both the scarcity of what is lacking and the abundance of what is already there. This gives rise to the theory of change that guides where to invest and how to learn from the transformation.
12 to 18 months
start taking action in partnership with the local community
Oasis Experience
The gateway to the Elos Methodology: it covers the seven disciplines in an intensive, contextualised and practical manner. It fosters mobilisation and collective action, and validates in practice the findings of the assessment.
3 to 6 months
to support the community’s activities
School of Transformation
A wide range of social solutions and technologies, organised in a logical sequence from the short to the long term, to build capacity where it is needed.
25 to 36 months
prepare your team for the relationship to continue
Leadership and Culture for Impact
Practical training for the organisation’s own leaders, so that the approach becomes embedded in its practices, decision-making and relationship with the local area, and is subsequently implemented independently by the organisation itself.
3 to 12 months
The list above is simply for reference, nothing more. An organisation may come to us needing an assessment, support with implementation or the development of its own teams, and that is where we start. What we do is understand each context and connect the dots where it makes sense.
What have we learnt after more than 25 years of crisis management?
The root of all these problems is a relationship issue.
There is a big difference between organisations that bring something ready-made to the local area and those that choose to build a partnership with the local community, working alongside them. It is this difference that makes our partners’ projects more successful and ensures they continue long after the contract has ended.
The other problems remain, and they are serious. Engineering problems are solved through engineering; budgetary problems are solved through budgeting. The issue of relationships cuts across all of them, and until someone addresses it, the other solutions will not hold water.
The key features of the Elos Methodology.
We come in through the community’s front door.
Listening takes place amongst those who live there, as well as those who make the decisions. This yields a type of information that commissioned research cannot obtain, because it depends on people being willing to speak, and they speak to those who are already there.
Trust that has been earned.
More than two decades of working on the ground open doors that no contract ever could. In many places, people are already familiar with Elos, or know someone who has taken part, and this changes what they’re willing to share and what they’re willing to build together.
Commitment leads to a mobilised community.
The job is done, and the skills remain with those who live there. The result lasts because of the people who stay.
30 minutes of a good chat
Before making any proposal, have a chat to see if there’s a good fit.
01 You summarise the context in three lines.
02Let’s arrange to meet for half an hour.
03We come away with a ‘yes’, a ‘no’ or a way forward.
Consultancy case studies
It has already happened there.
Each case identifies the mechanism at work in that instance, as well as the outcome.
HASCO, Lynnwood, Washington
Mechanism: facilitating dialogue between the housing authority, residents and the local community, pending the city council’s decision.
The council approved the change to the zoning plan by 6 votes to 1, and the social housing regeneration project got off the ground.
Who hired them?
Where I saw problems, they saw opportunities
Duane Leonard
Executive Director
Snohomish County Housing Authority
Rumo, Baixada Santista
Mechanism: assessment and mediation along the railway line, with ‘Oasis Experiences’ and seed funding for the projects chosen by the community.
Communities that had previously been critical of the company began to run their own projects, with R$150,000 distributed amongst 27 of them.
Who hired them?
- +850 people taking part in the community clean-up campaigns
- R$150,000 in seed funding for 27 community projects
- 13 out-of-court settlements in a land repossession case
Movimenta Baixada Report · 2023 to 2025
Those who have hired staff, and those who were on the other side.
ADM
Natura
Vivo
Compass Gas & Energy
CBA
Arymax Foundation
Reciclar Institute
Rumo
Caixa’s Socio-Environmental Fund
“The methodology used by Elos, as well as the team’s commitment and willingness, were crucial in enabling us to analyse the profiles of the applicants in depth.”
Renata Ruggiero MoraesExecutive Director of the Reciclar Institute
“I sensed that the residents were less guarded and more curious, and when we reached the climax of everyone’s dream, the models being created collectively, at that moment I was certain that the circle was complete.”
Fabíola, Vila Sapo Housing Association, at the Oasis Community Centre in Santos
“I thought I was going to die and wouldn’t live to see all this happen in my village.”
Mr JacóChair of the Vila Manoel Secco Thomé Residents’ Association, Campo Grande