Impact · Case studies · Institutions
Beyond the tracks: communities that used to criticise Rumo have become partners and are now leading local initiatives.
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.
9
territories driven by the Oasis Experiences
Movimenta Baixada Report · 2023 to 2025
+850
people took part in the community work days
Movimenta Baixada Report · 2023 to 2025
R$ 150,000
in seed funding for 27 community projects
Movimenta Baixada Report · 2023 to 2025
13
Out-of-court settlements paved the way for repossession
Movimenta Baixada Report · 2023 to 2025
context
The railway runs through the Baixada Santista region, between the mountains and the sea, and passes through the communities that lie along its route.
Communities in the Baixada viewed Rumo with suspicion, and the company had a tarnished reputation in the area.
diagnosis
Through active and in-depth listening, the challenges facing each area were identified, community by community.
community spirit
The Oasis Experiences provided a space for communities to be heard and to take the lead in realising their own dreams. Mistrust gave way to affection.
More than 850 people rolled up their sleeves to work on public spaces, installing play equipment, fitness equipment, benches, signage and landscaping, and planting over 900 saplings.
community building
A series of calls for proposals provided seed funding for 27 projects, and one outcome resonated across the regions: the potential was already there.
integration
An inter-community committee organised the Communities Festival, and more than 200 people came together to enjoy local attractions, an entrepreneurs’ fair and themed areas.
governance
In the repossession proceedings, there were four mediation sessions, more than 80 hearings and 13 out-of-court settlements.
A collective of local representatives was formed and set up three working groups to focus on public policy.
Elos led the development of the strategy and relational infrastructure through assessments, the facilitation of community initiatives, conflict mediation and coordination with public authorities and partners.
What the communities and Rumo have built: Projects run by the residents themselves, and a relationship of trust that has turned risks into connections.
Faced with a situation of fragmentation and mistrust within communities, Instituto Elos focused its efforts on building social intelligence and relational infrastructure in the Baixada Santista region. It discovered something that transformed the entire project: the real shortage there was not a lack of resources. It was a lack of dialogue, a sense of belonging and collaboration.
A company operating across different territories needs more than just a licence to operate. It needs to build relationships. When the project began, more than half of the communities along the railway line viewed Rumo with suspicion, and the initial assessments revealed fragmentation, mistrust and risk. In some areas, more than half of the families could not even envisage a dream.
By supporting and fostering a relational infrastructure that has rebuilt trust, Movimenta Baixada, a joint initiative by Rumo and the Elos School of Transformation, has begun to turn risks into connections.
Partnerships have replaced mistrust and bridged the gap between communities, businesses and the public authorities themselves.
The initial images of scarcity and conflict have given way to measurable results: a strengthened sense of potential, belonging and agency, and signs of a culture of cooperation that is contributing to the daily struggle to break the historical cycles of poverty, isolation and violence.
The approach taken was the Elos method. Following an area-by-area assessment, the ‘Oasis Experiences’ were launched, community work parties in which residents brought their collective dreams to life. There were nine full-scale ‘Oasis Experiences’, involving over 850 people, with more than 900 seedlings planted and over 20 lorry-loads of rubbish cleared away.
The initiative did not stop at the community work day. A call for proposals supported 27 community projects with a seed fund of over R$150,000, and more than 80 per cent of them delivered on their promises, ranging from income generation to tourist itineraries. An Inter-Community Committee brought together 16 leaders from six territories and organised the 1st Community Festival, attended by over 200 people from nine neighbourhoods, featuring local attractions, an entrepreneurs’ fair and themed areas.
And the community began to organise itself to reach a decision. A collective of local representatives was formed, which set up three working groups to influence public policy. Where there was conflict, the project helped to forge a consensus: in one land repossession case, there were four joint conciliation efforts, more than 80 hearings and 13 out-of-court settlements, with partners such as Artesp, Ecovias and local councils.
Our argument is that sustainable local outcomes are achieved when investments and initiatives are accompanied by the strengthening of the local community’s collective capacity to recognise potential, establish a shared direction, cooperate and deliver.
Elos’s role is to create the conditions for this capacity to be coordinated and strengthened.
Those who have experienced it tell their stories
By investing in residents’ active role in their communities, we encourage a sense of belonging to awaken, in each community, the potential for transformation through the exercise of citizenship.
Paulo Farine
Director of Solutions for Organisations, Instituto Elos