The 2019 calls of the Active Citizens Fund in Portugal which opened between early May and July this year, received a total of 45 applications for projects in the priority areas of Democratic culture and civic awareness, and capacity building of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

A total of EUR 2 513 642 was requested, representing 302% of the budget allocation for the 2019 calls (EUR 830 000).

In Outcome 1 – Strengthened democratic culture and civic awareness, for which EUR 270 000 is available to support projects, 25 applications were submitted; and in Outcome 4 – Enhanced capacity and sustainability of civil society, with a budget of EUR 560 000, 20 applications were submitted. In Outcome 1 the projects to be selected can go up to 18 months and in Outcome 4 up to 30 months. Their costs can be supported by the Active Citizens Fund up to 90% of the eligible costs.

It is now up to the Program Management Unit to check the admissibility of applications submitted, which will be evaluated by a pool of independent experts to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and to the Bissaya Barreto Foundation.

The selection and approval of applications is scheduled for late November 2019.