The call for applications is open for institutional projects under Outcome 4 – Enhanced capacity and sustainability of Civil Society (organizations and the sector) – of the Active Citizens Programme in Portugal.

The Financial Mechanism Office, the programme operator of the Active Citizens Fund in Portugal, has selected the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as Fund Operator in Portugal, in consortium with the Bissaya Barreto Foundation. The Active Citizens Fund is operated in Portugal under the terms and conditions of the ‘Programme Implementation Agreement’ (PIA).

Objectives

The above-mentioned projects contribute to Outcome 4 - “Enhanced capacity and sustainability of civil society (organizations and the sector)" and encompass namely the following activities, based on a previously prepared organizational needs assessment and action plan:

• Training, mentoring, coaching and consulting in the priority cross-cutting areas of advocacy, watchdog and fundraising;
• Traineeships for NGO staff members in other NGOs;
• Cross-cutting training, mentoring, coaching and consulting on governance, planning, administrative and financial management, communication and marketing, volunteer attraction and management, monitoring and evaluation techniques;
• Participation in networks and other vehicles for the internationalisation of organisations and their associative structures;
• Transfer of knowledge between large and small civil society organisations;
• Exchange of experiences for benchmarking;
• Conducting studies and publications and creation of data bases and knowledge and information repositories;
• Reinforcement of the sector’s capacity and notoriety through networking, fundraising and dissemination events.
• Creation of a social business, based on a business plan.

Funding Information

• Institutional projects under this call shall have a total supportable cost above 30 000 euros and less than or equal to 75 000 euros, with the eligible costs of the project co-financed at a rate of up to 90%.
• The maximum duration of large projects to be selected under this call for applications shall be 30 months.

Eligible applicants

• Project promoters must comply with the general conditions of eligibility of the Programme provided for in Articles 9 and 10 of the Programme Rules.
• Partner entities must comply with Article 12 of the Programme Rules. If the partner entities require funding, they must also comply with Article 9 of the Programme Rules.
• Each entity, either as promoter or as partner, must comply with the limits on accessing support stated in paragraph 4, Article 19 of the Programme Rules.

For more information, visit Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.