Just a Change is a non-profit association that rebuilds homes for needy people in Portugal.
To date, Just a Change has rebuilt hundreds of homes and institutions, having mobilized thousands of volunteers inside and outside the country.
Our Mission
We rehabilitate houses without roofs, windows and doors.
Houses where there is no hot water or electricity. We rehabilitate homes where it gets cold.
We rehabilitate houses because we believe that living conditions have a direct impact on reducing poverty and crime in the population.
We rehabilitate homes because we know it improves public health and energy efficiency in our country.
We rehabilitate houses because we know that this can be the starting point for a new life.
We rehabilitate houses so that everyone has a decent place to live.
We rebuild lives because we bring volunteers full of joy and hope to people’s homes.
We rebuild lives because we give hope to those who no longer had it, and because we mobilize the community to help and recover their loved ones.
We rebuild lives because home is the most important place in the world and we all deserve to have one.
Our Vision
We look to the future and dream of a World where there is Joy, Hope and Charity in every home.
We also look at what we do and what we leave behind, everywhere we go. We want you to see us as those who sow Joy, Hope and Charity. Queremos levar este nosso sonho a cada casa, a cada voluntário e a cada parceiro. This vision is a real objective, for the lives of each one of the people involved, because if we have left Joy, Hope and Charity in a house forever, the world has already been transformed for the better.
Our Mission
We rehabilitate houses without roofs, windows and doors.
Houses where there is no hot water or electricity. We rehabilitate homes where it gets cold.
We rehabilitate houses because we believe that living conditions have a direct impact on reducing poverty and crime in the population.
We rehabilitate homes because we know it improves public health and energy efficiency in our country.
We rehabilitate houses because we know that this can be the starting point for a new life.
We rehabilitate houses so that everyone has a decent place to live.
We rebuild lives because we bring volunteers full of joy and hope to people’s homes.
We rebuild lives because we give hope to those who no longer had it, and because we mobilize the community to help and recover their loved ones.
We rebuild lives because home is the most important place in the world and we all deserve to have one.
Our Vision
We look to the future and dream of a World where there is Joy, Hope and Charity in every home.
We also look at what we do and what we leave behind, everywhere we go. We want you to see us as those who sow Joy, Hope and Charity. Queremos levar este nosso sonho a cada casa, a cada voluntário e a cada parceiro. This vision is a real objective, for the lives of each one of the people involved, because if we have left Joy, Hope and Charity in a house forever, the world has already been transformed for the better.
Our Pillars
Service
In all, we put ourselves
in the service of others
Security
In all works
and activities
Sustainable Impact
Efficiency, Quality,
Social Effectiveness and
Financial Sustainability
VOLUNTEER MANIFESTO
1. The beneficiary
The beneficiary is why you’re here. We want to rebuild your life and bring you joy, hope and charity. The work is just a means to do it. You cannot judge the beneficiary or their home by their actions, words, appearance, possessions or cleanliness. You have to be patient and considerate! You don’t know its history. Between the beneficiary and the work, the choice is always the first.
2. The commitment
Committing to Just a Change means remembering that there are people who depend on you: the team, the beneficiary and everyone else involved in the project. All hours are essential and whenever there is a failure there is work that remains to be done, the work is delayed and, above all, the beneficiary is harmed.
3. The joy
The simplest gesture can change someone’s life. When you arrive home with joy, you increase the joy of others. You may not be the life of the party, but a “how was your day?”, or a simple smile to a beneficiary can make all the difference. Don’t worry if you give all the joy you have in you, you’ll get it back… And there will be more. Joy is a responsibility.
4. The Construction
Take care of the construction, follow the people who are there to help you and stay safe.
5. The sweater
Wear the sweater, turning small tasks into big actions. Make it a symbol of unity and pass it on from house to house. Let’s do it… For JUST!
6. The Service
It’s not always easy, you go beyond yourself, you’re not here for yourself but to serve others. Do good, well done.
7. The respect
Respect is universal. It is like the floor of a house which must be solid. It is one of the pillars of a team that stands on this basis. Respect will give strength so that, together, we can build a new roof for the beneficiary. Never forget, more than hierarchically, respect must be mutual.
We create impact by collaborating in an integrated and organized way
Local Partners
Just a Change
Signal
Mobilize local agents to signal cases of housing poverty and apply Just a Change criteria to select cases that will be the target of intervention.
mobilize
Once the interventions are defined, Just a Change is in charge of mobilizing the main resources necessary for the project and execution.
Rehabilitate
Throughout the work, Just a Change is focused on creating a relationship with its beneficiaries and managing the relationship with partners to enhance social cohesion. During the intervention, beneficiaries are challenged to participate.
accompany
Just a Change ensures that the change wrought by the work does not disappear, promoting the involvement of other local agents, dedicated to monitoring other social issues.
just a change programs
We have developed several intervention programs that allow us to act in different contexts in parallel, thus enhancing the social impact and social cohesion in local communities.
Camp in
In the summer months, the 13-day Just a Change Camps spread across the country and generate social impact in local communities.
Keep up
During the academic holidays, the constraction do not stop! Just a Change’s weekly bootcamps maintain the joy of Just constructions in Lisbon and Porto.
ALL IN
An intense day in which companies go all out, involving their employees to also generate social impact and get their hands dirty.
Partners
Eradicating housing poverty will always depend on the joint effort of various sectors. We seek to work with partners who want to help us achieve this end, whether working on the issue of housing and energy poverty, or with support in kind or construction material.
All partners take us further, whether they accompany us just one step or the whole way.
“Effectively, change is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation and consensus.”
Simon Mainwaring
Municipal and Regional
Technical, Management and Resource
The team
Simão Oom
Diretor Executivo
Mafalda Negrão
Diretora Financeira e de Impacto
Guilherme Fogaça
Diretor de Operações
Arickson Maocha
Serviços Administrativos e Financeiros
João Captivo
Gestor de Operações | Lisboa
Eduardo Lopes
Gestor de Operações | Porto
António Batista
Gestor de Projeto
Duarte Almeida
Gestor de Projeto
Gonçalo Ferro
Gestor de Projeto
João Trindade
Gestor de Projecto
Sofia Cotrim
Gestora de Projeto
Samuel ‘Amado’ Luwawa
Técnico de Obra
Arnóbio Serafim
Técnico de Obra
José Afonso
Diretor de Parcerias
Madalena Jalles
Gestora de Parcerias
Pedro Rodrigues
Gestor de Parcerias
Rita Lucena
Diretora de Fundos, Financiamentos e Prémios
Rita Pequito
Gestora de Comunicação e Fundraising
AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS
For more than 10 years, Just a Change has been accumulating several distinctions. Undoubtedly, all this recognition is thanks to a collective effort by all stakeholders.
Take a look below at what we’ve achieved so far!
“A Place Called Home”
IKEA Portugal supported 4 Camp In 2021 projects, enabling the rehabilitation of 15 houses.
BPI Senior 2020
Support to implement a project focused on the elderly in Óbidos, which resulted in the rehabilitation of 4 houses in the region.
World Habitat Awards
The Camp In project was recognized with the 2020 Bronze Award for practical and innovative solutions to the current global housing crisis.
Ashoka
António Bello, one of the founders of Just a Change was nominated and became an Ashoka Fellow in 2018.
Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD)
In 2020, CGD supported our Disclosure Project with a €10,000 prize.
VINCI – VINCI Program for Citizenship in 2019
Turn Up Project distinguished with a subsidy of €25,000
Microsoft International
Recognized as one of three projects in the world to be invested by Microsoft in 2017.
Porticus
€150,000 allocated in 2018 and 2019 to improve revenue streams with some social business models, by implementing a strong fundraising strategy and improving financial management processes.
Partnerships for Impact (Portugal Social Innovation)
Recognized, in 2017, as an innovative initiative of Social Entrepreneurship, by the Structure of Investment in Portuguese Social Innovation. Award of a subsidy of €122,500 to be implemented in social investment.
INSEAD
Winners of the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program, in 2018.
Social Innovation to tackle Fuel Poverty 2018 (Ashoka and Schneider Electric)
(2017) Distinguished as one of the five winning projects in the implementation of innovative solutions in the fight against energy poverty. We were awarded a prize of €2,000 and an acceleration program.
BPI Solidarity 2018 (BPI and “la Caixa” Foundation)
Award of €40,000, in 2018.
Start TelAviv
In 2017, we were offered a roadshow to Israel, with a presence at the DLD Innovation Festival, thus representing Portugal.
Santander’s University Volunteering Awards
Distinguished in 2016, with the amount of €5,000 and a strategic fundraising partner JAC’s.
Manuel António da Mota Award (FMAM)
Recognized with an honorable distinction in 2015 and a partnership in 2016 equivalent to more than €30,000/year.
Youth Volunteering Montepio Awards
Received a prize of €3,000 in 2013.
Do Something Awards
Received a prize of €1,000 in 2011.