Capacity building, empowerment, participation, cohesion and human rights are concepts that, when put into practice, have the power to transform lives. In the five narratives and the mini-documentary “Uniting Voices, Inspiring Change”, we can see how these principles have been materialized through the experiences of 25 participants from some of the 182 projects supported by the Active Citizens Programme (ACP) between 2018 and 2024.

These narratives show how it was possible to set up an advisory group with citizens to reflect together on what the ACP and its impact has been in the seven years of its existence and what it could be in the future. Through their voices, we realized that capacity building is more than acquiring new skills, that empowerment is a process of strengthening individuals and communities, and that participation is being active and present. We also realized that cohesion is the ability of people to stand together in solidarity within a larger whole, and that the lived meaning of human rights, as universal norms and principles that guarantee dignity, is a safeguard of freedom and equality for all human beings.

These sound and image portraits, produced by the More Than Stories team, clearly demonstrate the relevance of the Active Citizens Program for the Calouste Gulbenkian and Bissaya Barreto Foundations in fulfilling their missions and the commitment made to the EEA Grants and the Donor States – Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein – to promote inclusion, civic participation and social transformation.