Clodomir Santos de Morais (30 September 1928 – 25 March 2016) was a Brazilian sociologist, trade unionist and community organizer best known for developing the Organization Workshop (OW) and the Large Group Capacitation Method (LGCM). These approaches use very large, multi-week learning events in which participants learn management, enterprise creation and organizational skills through collective, practical experience rather than classroom instruction. His life combined political activism, policy advising and field methods intended to link social movements with practical capacity building.

Early life and activism

De Morais began his public career as a journalist and union activist in the 1940s and 1950s and became a member of the Pernambuco State Assembly. He was a co‑founder of the Ligas Camponesas (Peasant Leagues), a rural social movement that advocated for small farmers' rights and land reform in Northeast Brazil. After the military coup of 1964 he went into exile, first in Chile, and later served in international advisory roles. He returned to Brazil after the end of military rule and focused on large‑scale responses to unemployment and social exclusion.

The Organization Workshop and Large Group Capacitation Method

The Organization Workshop and LGCM emphasize learning by doing in unusually large cohorts — often tens or hundreds of participants — who are given real problems, resources and limited facilitation to create functioning organizations, cooperatives or enterprises. Key features include:

  • Large group scale: events involve dozens to hundreds of participants working together.
  • Real work context: participants carry out genuine economic or administrative tasks rather than simulated exercises.
  • Minimal external intervention: facilitators provide structure but let participants self‑organize, experiment and learn from consequences.
  • Focus on capacity: the goal is to build organizational capabilities that persist beyond the training period.

International work and advisory roles

During his years abroad de Morais worked with international agencies and governments as a consultant on agrarian reform and participatory development. He served as an ILO regional adviser on agrarian reform for Central America and provided consultancy across Latin America, Portugal and Africa. His methods appealed to practitioners seeking scalable, community‑driven approaches to enterprise creation, particularly in contexts of land reform, refugee reintegration, and post‑conflict reconstruction.

Applications, reception and critique

OW and LGCM have been applied to factory formation, cooperative development, and vocational capacitation where traditional training was judged too individualistic or classroom‑bound. Supporters point to durable organizations formed during workshops and to rapid transfers of practical management skills. Critics and evaluators note that large‑group interventions are resource intensive, require skilled facilitation, and may work best where participants share a minimum level of motivation and local social cohesion. The approach is often presented as complementary to other participatory and adult education methods rather than a universal solution.

Legacy

De Morais linked roots in social movement organizing to a distinct pedagogical method aimed at collective economic empowerment. His work has influenced development practitioners interested in large‑scale participatory training and remains a reference for those exploring alternatives to top‑down capacity building. Academic and practice communities continue to study and adapt the Organization Workshop model to varied cultural and economic settings. For further context about his life and methods see sources on his biography and the OW approach at authoritative profiles.