According to data made available by Nova SBE, social organisations that provide support to people facing social hardships reported that they are encountering serious obstacles in providing the adequate response to an increased set of social problems that the pandemic has also intensified – the decrease in monthly payments, the reduction of donations and of public and private funds, the rise of costs, the need to adapt their activity and the loss of collaborators and volunteers.

For these organisations, problems such as mental health (for 88% of the entities), poverty and homelessness (73%), exclusion and inequalities (61%) and domestic violence (36%) will worsen in the coming years.

In this context, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation approved exceptional support of 1.1 million euros to be granted to twelve organisations affected by the pandemic, in order to support their resilience and encourage the creation of responses that are more appropriate to the new social reality.

“The pandemic has made even more vulnerable those who were already the most vulnerable. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation could not ignore the difficulties faced by the social organisations that are on the front line on a daily basis, supporting those who suffer the most and need help the most,” explains the President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. ” Reinforcing our support to these organisations, whose work is widely recognised, means being present where we are needed,” concludes Isabel Mota.

Support will now be granted to five organisations working in the area of mental health and another seven that support vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, victims of violence, the homeless, migrants, refugees and the disabled, both in Portugal and in the Armenian communities. The Gulbenkian Foundation’s total support amounts to one million one hundred thousand euros. Throughout 2022, the Foundation will continue to give priority to social organisations that play a decisive role in mitigating the effects of the pandemic in society.

Supported organisations

Working with Vulnerable Publics:

• Alzheimer Portugal;
• APAV;
• Comunidade Vida e Paz;
• Serviço Jesuíta aos Refugiados;
• Associação Salvador;
• Karagheusian Association (Líbano);
• SOSE Women’s Issues (Arménia).

In the field of Mental Health:

• Espaço T;
• Encontrar+SE;
• Associação ManifestaMENTE;
• MOJU – Associação Movimento Juvenil de Olhão;
• Associação Aventura Social.