Within Portugal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Portuguese Institute for Cooperation and Language (O Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I. P.) administers Portugal’s development cooperation. Development cooperation focuses on the Portuguese-speaking developing countries other than Brazil.
Programs of bilateral aid emphasize governance, education, health, and sustainable development. Under the theme of sustainable development, Portugal funds projects in agriculture, natural resources, and water and sanitation.
Grant Programs for Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Natural Resources
Co-Financing of Portuguese Civil Society for Development Cooperation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs supports Portuguese development NGOs which have legal status, and which meet other specified criteria.
About support for Portuguese NGOs
APPLICATION: Portuguese civil society organizations register with Camões IP to be eligible. Camões IP calls for proposals from these registered organizations.
Link to calls for proposals
Geographical Distribution of Grant Activities in Developing Countrie
Portugal’s priority partners for bilateral development cooperation are indicated below.
Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands: Timor-Leste
Sub-Saharan Africa: Angola, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Principe
Note: Grant-funded Portuguese NGOs engage in countries in addition to those listed above.
The website of Camões IP is available in Portuguese, English, Spanish and Chinese.
Camões IP is a new and evolving organizational structure (established in 2012) to integrate Portugal’s development cooperation with the country’s international programs in education, culture, and Portuguese language.
FESAN (Fortalecimento da Resiliência e da Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional) focuses on Food and Nutrition Security in Angola and published regular calls for proposals.
Camões IP offers contact information at the country level. This may be particularly important in the countries of bilateral cooperation.
The Portuguese Platform of Non-Governmental Organizations is an umbrella organization of more than 50 Portuguese NGOs engaged in development activity. The platform offers a directory of its members, news, and online access to documents.
March 2021