The training journey as a strategy for strengthening initiatives in Campo Grande
The training journey was run as a path of progressive strengthening of the territory’s initiatives, bringing together reflection, planning, organisation and the development of socio-environmental impact projects rooted in local reality. Across eight sessions, we worked through content essential to supporting participants in turning ideas into actions that are more solid, more feasible and better connected to the needs of the communities and audiences they want to reach.
More than a sequence of meetings, the journey took shape as a process of applied training, with concrete results in retention, engagement and participants’ ability to structure their proposals more clearly. One of the main strengths of this path was precisely the way methodologies often associated with the corporate or technical world could be translated into simple, accessible language connected to the everyday practice of those working in the territory.
Accessible methodologies to strengthen real projects
In running the journey, the focus was on presenting content and tools for structuring projects in a practical, understandable way. Topics such as purpose, funding sources, reading the context, organising workflow, timelines, defining audiences, communicating impact, budgeting, goals, metrics and risk analysis were handled in a way that made them easy for participants to take up, without alienating the group with terms that were excessively technical or far removed from their reality.
This methodological choice was central to the training’s success. Tools such as sticky-note boards, Kanban, the Gantt chart, the Urgency x Importance Matrix, the Empathy Map, SMART goals and the Risk and Impact Matrix helped turn concepts that might have seemed complex into simple instruments for reading, planning and decision-making. With that, the journey not only presented content but also created the conditions for it to be understood, tested and applied concretely.
A path that combined reflection, practice and consistency
In the first stage of the pathway, we worked on purpose, identity and types of organisation, helping participants to name the meaning of their initiatives and to recognise possible ways of working. The journey then moved on to funding sources, planning next steps and reading the territory’s pain points, reinforcing the importance of building actions rooted in the realities the communities live.
In the following sessions, we went deeper into content linked to the practical organisation of projects. We worked on workflow, task distribution, timelines, priorities and audience definition, always linking planning and execution. In the final stage, the journey addressed budgeting, goals, metrics, sources of verification, critical analysis, internal coherence and risk identification, strengthening participants’ strategic view of their own projects.
Engagement, retention and high-quality participation
One of the most notable aspects of this experience was the group’s level of retention and involvement. In all, 32 people registered to take part in the pathway. Of these, 15 were selected, exceeding the initial target of forming a group of 10 participants. By the end of the journey, 13 people had completed it, with more than 80% attendance and low drop-out throughout the process.
These figures show that the training managed to sustain connection and interest consistently. When a journey offers useful content, presents methodologies in accessible language and creates a space for exchange connected to the reality of the territory, engagement shows up not only in attendance, but also in continuity and in the quality of participation.
Progress as perceived by the participants
The self-assessment results also confirm the consistency of this path. Considering the 10 people who responded both at the start and at the end of the journey, the overall self-assessment average rose from 2.41 to 3.16, on a scale of 1 to 5. That represents growth of 31.1%, showing a clear evolution in how the group perceived their own capabilities over the course of the training.
Another striking figure is that 9 of the 10 people who responded at both moments improved their self-assessment. The strongest gains appeared precisely in areas central to structuring projects, such as activity and project management, evaluation of results, financial management, participant records and knowledge of calls for proposals and partnerships. This is one of the most concrete signs that the journey managed to translate technical content into tools that are understandable and applicable in the day-to-day life of the initiatives.
Black women from Campo Grande at the centre of the process
Another important aspect of the journey was the profile of the participants. There was a significant presence of Black people from the Campo Grande region, mostly women, which reinforces the role of training as a strategy for strengthening leaders and initiatives already rooted in the territory. This shows that the journey reached precisely those who have historically built community responses, but who do not always have easy access to tools for planning, management and project structuring.
By working with this group in a respectful, accessible way connected to the local context, the journey helped widen repertoires without detaching participants from their practices, knowledge and experiences. In that sense, the training strengthened more than the projects: it worked on the self-confidence and the legitimacy of people who already work daily to transform the territory.
One testimony that helps convey this experience is that of Eva Soares da Silva, president of the Associação Horta Flor de Girassol do Florence 2, a 58-year-old Black woman and former state-school teacher. For her, “the training journey course was very rewarding; I had an opportunity for learning, for exchanging knowledge and for gaining a great deal of understanding with a teacher who has a real command of the subject, explaining it clearly and to the point”. Her words reinforce the sense that the journey managed to combine technical content, accessible language and appreciation of the experience already present in the territory.
When learning turns into approval
One of the journey’s most striking results was the participants’ ability to convert their learning into concrete proposals for the Fundo de Cidadania Ativa. Of those who took part in the training, four submitted projects to the fund and all four were approved. Of these approvals, two were awarded in the R$ 5 mil bracket and the other two in the R$ 10 mil bracket.
This result objectively demonstrates the effectiveness of the training path. More than attending classes or learning about tools, participants were able to mobilise what they had learned assertively and broadly, structuring projects that were solid, coherent and ready to access funding. In practice, this confirms that the journey fulfilled a strategic role of preparation, qualification and real strengthening of the territory’s initiatives.
Strengthening local capacities and working as a network
Over the course of the journey, it also became clear how important it is to create a space for exchange between people and initiatives facing similar challenges. By bringing participants together around common themes, the process favoured not only individual learning but also the circulation of experiences, the building of shared references and the strengthening of bonds between different areas of work in the territory.
This kind of training contributes directly to widening local capacity for planning, delivery and networked coordination. When more people in the territory can structure their projects clearly, communicate their proposals better and access resources in a more qualified way, the whole community ecosystem grows stronger.
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The mobilisation for the journey also showed the strength of the existing interest in the territory in training processes that are accessible and connected to practice. The volume of registrations, the selection above the initial target and the high completion rate reinforce that there is concrete demand for training that translates technical content into tools useful for community reality.
This movement widens the relevance of the experience and helps convey that the journey was not merely a cycle of classes, but an effective strategy for strengthening local initiatives, with impact perceived by the participants themselves and concrete results in the quality of the projects.
Prospects for the next activities
The contributions of the training journey do not end with this cycle. The methodologies presented remain a basis for participants to organise their projects, revise strategies, strengthen their communication and build new actions with more clarity, coherence and capacity for follow-up. At the same time, the results achieved show the potential for continuing and expanding this experience, whether through new cohorts, mentoring, advisory support or other forms of accompaniment.
As a social impact adviser and facilitator of the journey, my assessment is that the main result was to demonstrate that, when useful methodologies are translated into simple language connected to local reality, they stop being distant tools and become real instruments of transformation. The path strengthened capacities, widened repertoires, sustained high engagement and also produced concrete results in participants’ self-perception and in their access to funding, with four projects approved by the Fundo de Cidadania Ativa. That shows the power of training that does not merely teach, but prepares people to act with more structure, confidence and strength in their territories.
