The Zambujal360 project focuses on the Bairro do Zambujal area, in the municipality of Amadora, in the district of Lisbon and is promoted by Ad Gentes – Associação Leigos Missionários da Consolata and by CAZAmbujal – Associação Recreativa, as stated in a document provided to The Portugal News.

Focusing on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promoted by the UN, the project, which has several partners, has a strong environmental nature, promoting sustainable action.

In the Zambujal neighbourhood, Zambujal 360 will operate in a multicultural area, with inhabitants from different origins, signalled by authorities for living in complicated living conditions, marked by unemployment, and addiction problems, among others.

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Zambujal360 ;

According to a document sent to The Portugal News, it is “divided into seventeen parts, corresponding to each of the 17 SDGs of the UN 2030 Agenda.” Thus, the 17 departments will be divided into three main areas: local commerce, education through health and education through art.

During the implementation of the project, it is expected to achieve several objectives, including “making Bairro do Zambujal the first ambassador neighbourhood of the UN SDGs”, for fulfilling the SDGs and “training the youth of the neighbourhood to become community agents”. Zambujal360 also intends to “open the Bairro to the world and the world to the Bairro”, disclosing the full potential of the area and reinforcing social cohesion, “experiencing first-hand the social, cultural and economic reality.” Reinforcing the “sense of belonging of the residents of Bairro do Zambujal” is also an objective to be achieved together with the residents. Finally, one of the objectives mentioned in the document, which The Portugal News had access to, is the promotion of “neighbourhood sustainability”, creating job and training areas for young people and boosting local commerce, for example.

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Zambujal360 ;

Volunteers wanted

Zambujal360 is looking for English-speaking volunteers who can teach young residents of the neighbourhood English, at a time when young people can help develop English language skills and contribute to a Portuguese social project. The actions will take place on the following Saturdays, from 2 pm to 6 pm: 22 April, 6, 13, 20 and 27 May, ending on 3 June.

Anyone interested can contact Ad Gentes via geral@adgentes.org.pt

Author

Deeply in love with music and with a guilty pleasure in criminal cases, Bruno G. Santos decided to study Journalism and Communication, hoping to combine both passions into writing. The journalist is also a passionate traveller who likes to write about other cultures and discover the various hidden gems from Portugal and the world. Press card: 8463. 

Bruno G. Santos