Impact
Rebuilding trust is the first step in any transformation.
We are experiencing a crisis of trust: most people no longer trust one another or the institutions. For over 25 years and in more than 60 countries, Instituto Elos has been rebuilding this trust through its own methodology of listening, dialogue and collaboration, and in doing so, it transforms people, communities and regions.
How Elos brings about change
The method behind every story.
Every transformation undertaken by Elos is based on the Elos Methodology, a Brazilian social technology applied in over 60 countries. It comprises seven disciplines, following the same path: from people to local communities and institutions.
01
Look
Appreciative diagnosis and asset mapping
02
Affection
Stakeholder engagement and trust-building
03
Dream
Building a shared vision and aligning priorities
04
Caution
Collaborative design and implementation planning
05
Miracle
Resource mobilisation and collaborative implementation
06
Celebration
Participatory evaluation, recognition and learning
07
Re-evolution
Sustainability, adaptation and continuity
It is this pattern that is repeated in every case on this page, with the difference being a person, a region or an institution.
The scope
The scope of the work.
+60
countries where the method has already been implemented
25 years and over
in continuous service since 1999
+3,000
trained leaders
+500,000
people reached
Where change happens
Three fronts, one method.
Elos develops people’s capabilities, coordinates these capabilities across local areas and transforms the institutions that control resources and decision-making. It is not a rigid sequence: each strand feeds back into the others.
Movement · in the regions
The long-term project.
The long-standing relationship with each community: recognising what already exists, dreaming together and carrying on after the programme ends. This is where a solution travels from one area to another via the 013 Leadership Network.
At the Vila Gilda Dock, a dream from 1999 returned, 26 years later, to teach the community how to protect itself. And new dreams were born from the group of women from the tidal flats.
The Dique da Vila Gilda: a story spanning three generations of the ‘Warriors Without Weapons’.
26 years
from the 1999 nursery to fire prevention in 2026
1
a group of women organised around the dream of setting up the Espaço Mulheres da Maré (currently in progress).
2
Two community sirens installed and the aim of developing a fire prevention and fire-fighting system (in progress)
Jardim São Manoel
São Manoel, a territory that symbolises the Elos Methodology, the Oasis Game in 2010 and the GSA in 2014, and which has helped to strengthen a powerful network of community organisations working towards the comprehensive urban regeneration of the neighbourhood.
Paquetá
Downtown Santos · where the Oasis Game was created and played for the first time in 2003, and where the Warriors Without Weapons returned in 2026.
Educational Centre in Guinea-Bissau
Cooperation between Brazil and Guinea-Bissau, with ABC and UNESCO · the toughest test: the approach championed by those other than Elos.
Education · in people
Those who have undergone the treatment.
The transformation of those who experienced ‘Warriors Without Weapons’, ‘Geração GSA’ and ‘Elos Leadership’, and who today drive change wherever they are.
Priscilla Pereira
Sítio Conceiçãozinha, Guarujá · a former participant in the Warriors Without Weapons programme who now runs the programme in her own community.
To Yvoty
Tekoa Pyau, Pico do Jaraguá (São Paulo) · Guarani Mbya leader, participant in Warriors Without Weapons 2024.
Léo Santos
Between Vila dos Criadores (Santos) and Vila dos Pescadores (Cubatão) · Elos and Geração GSA 2023, GSA 2025 connection.
Solutions · for organisations
Businesses and governments.
The consultancy that brings the method into businesses and public authorities, building genuine relationships with the communities they operate within.
HASCO · Lynnwood
Lynnwood, Washington · how genuine listening and co-creation with the community led the town council to approve, by 6 votes to 1, the zoning plan that paved the way for the regeneration of two housing estates.
Rumo
Baixada Santista, 2023 to 2025 · Movimenta Baixada has transformed the relationship with the railway by giving residents a voice and providing them with a framework.
External evaluation
The most difficult race to organise.
The strongest evidence in favour of a method emerges when the person who upholds it is no longer the one who devised it.
In Guinea-Bissau, the Amizade São Paulo Educational Centre is now run by educators trained in the method itself, and the awalé has spread to schools across the country through teachers in the state education system. In more than 60 countries, the method has already been implemented by individuals and organisations other than Elos. An independent third-party evaluation is the next step, and this is currently open for consideration.
Guinea-Bissau (CEASP)
an approach championed by those trained by Elos
more than 60 countries
the method used by third parties
Acknowledgements and partnerships
Those who recognise and celebrate our impact.
Eliasson Global Leadership Award
Tällberg Foundation · 2017
For the work carried out at Instituto Elos.
Brazil’s 100 Best NGOs
Instituto Doar and Instituto O Mundo Que Queremos · five times, most recently in 2023
Ranked amongst the country’s top 100 in five of the seven editions of the awards since 2017. Management and transparency have once again been assessed by external bodies.
Human Rights Organisation
Department of Justice and Citizens’ Rights · 2018
Recognition by the State of São Paulo of work carried out in the field.
Social technology
Banco do Brasil Foundation
The Oasis Game has been certified as a social technology and is free for anyone to use.
The Zumbi dos Palmares Award
For his work with Black and marginalised communities.
ATP Prize
Recognition of the method applied in the region.
Periferia Viva Award
For its work with communities on the outskirts.
The Francisco Groh Prize
G5 Partners · 2019
Awarded for its impact on transforming the lives of communities.
Partners
Natura
Vivo
ADM
Compass Gas & Energy
CBA
Ministry of Culture
Rumo
Arymax Foundation
Reciclar Institute
Caixa’s Socio-Environmental Fund
Unimed
Be The Earth
Imaginable Futures
Brazilian Cooperation Agency
UNESCO
UN-Habitat
Nota Fiscal Paulista Donor Network
The two networks
Which is still happening.
The impact of Elos does not end when a cycle concludes. It lives on in two networks, each with its own entry point.
Network of communities and leaders
Regions that continue to drive change after the programme has ended, and which share with one another what has worked in each of them.
GSA Network
Those who have completed the Warriors Without Weapons programme and now apply the method wherever they are. More than 800 leaders in over 60 countries.
Rebuilding trust is a collective effort.
You can be part of it by supporting Elos or introducing the method to your local area or organisation.