Nineteen Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) with established projects in the area of promoting civic participation under the EEA Grants 2018-2024 programme in Portugal will be supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation over the course of 2024.

The Foundation’s support, which is unprecedented among the 14 countries that make up the EEA Grants, comes in a year of transition between support frameworks, and aims to ensure the sustainability of NGOs working in the area of civic participation.

This bridge funding will make it possible to support 19 organisations over the next 12 months, in three major categories:

• Projects

  Seven civic participation projects will be supported, chosen from 71 applications, including the Migrant Media Project by the Pão a Pão Association and My Polis – Gamified Citizenship Education by the Discurso Paralelo Association;

• Umbrella Organisations

  Three umbrella organisations (which support NGOs) that are statutory prevented from applying for support from the EEA Grants Programme, due to competition with the organisations they support, will be supported as a way of promoting the structure of the sector;

• SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ORGANISATIONS

  Support to nine small and medium-sized organisations, with the aim of strengthening human resources, supporting digital transformation or creating more and better social responses, contributing to the long-term development of organisational structures.

This support, of around 30,000 euros per institution, will be channelled to 12 organisations based in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, three in the Porto Metropolitan Area, three in the Centre and one in the North of the country.

In addition to ensuring the transition between funding cycles, the aim of this initiative is to use innovative and less bureaucratic methods and to test models for simplifying the application process and the allocation of resources.

About the Programme

Since 2013, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation has managed the EEA Grants funds (financed by Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) aimed at strengthening Portuguese civil society.

Intended for projects promoting democratic participation, active citizenship and human rights, as well as initiatives that strengthen the sustainability and capacity of Portuguese civil society, these funds are managed within the Foundation by the Active Citizens Programme. Between 2018 and 2024, the Programme supported 182 projects with a total of €11.5 million euros.