Renovating Homes, Rebuilding Lives.
Just a Change is a non-profit association
that rebuilds homes of people in need in Portugal.
To this day, Just a Change has rebuilt hundreds of houses 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 houses where it is cold all the time.
We rehabilitate homes because we believe that living conditions have a direct impact on reducing poverty and crime in the population. We rehabilitate homes because we know that it brings improvements to public health and energy efficiency in our country. We rehabilitate homes because we know that this could be the starting point for a new life. We rehabilitate homes 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 have it, and because we mobilize the community to help and recover their own.
We rebuild lives because home is the most important place in the world and we all deserve to have one.
RENOVATING HOMES, REBUILDING LIVES
our
vision
We look to the future and dream of a world where there is Joy, Hope and Charity
in all homes.
We also look at what we do and what we leave behind. We want you to see us as those who sow Joy, Hope and Charity everywhere we go. We want to take this dream of ours to every home,
every volunteer and every partner ..
This vision is a real goal, for the life of each of the people involved. For if in a house we have left Joy, Hope and Charity forever, the world has already been transformed for the better.
our pillars
SERVICE
SAFETY
SUSTAINABLE
IMPACT
In everything, putting ourselves at the service of others
In every
rehabilitation and activity
Efficiency, Quality, Social Effectiveness and Financial Sustainability
Volunteer
Manifesto
1. THE BENEFICIARY
The beneficiary is the reason you’re here. We want to rebuild their life and bring them joy, hope and charity. The construction site is just a means to this end.
You won’t judge them for their home, their actions, words, looks, possessions or cleanliness. You must be patient and thoughtful. You don’t know their story.
If you ever have to choose between the beneficiary and the construction, the right choice would always be 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. . Every hour is essential and everytime you neglect your work, someone else has to do it. The construction gets delayed and most of all, the beneficiary is the one getting harmed
3. the joy
The simplest gesture can change someone's life.
When you come to work happy, you increase the joy of others. You may not be the life of the party, but a "how was your day", or even just a smile can have a big impact on the beneficiary.
Give all your joy and it will come back to you.
At Just a Change, joy is a responsibility.
4. the construction site
Take care of the site. Follow the lead of the people who are there to help you and make sure you keep yourself safe.
5. the t-shirt
Put your shirt on, literally and figuratively and turn small chores into big gestures. Make it a symbol of union and spread this feeling through every home you work in.
6. the service
It’s not always easy but get over yourself. You’re here to serve others and not the other way around.
Do good, in a good mood.
7. the respect
Respect is universal. Is like the floor of a house - it must be solid. It’s one of the foundations of a team. Respect will strengthen the group so that, together, you can build a new ceiling for the beneficiary.
Never forget that, more than hierarchically, respect must be mutual.
We enhance our impact by collaborating with local organizations
We activate the local network of social partners, to map and screen families living in a state of housing poverty. From there and with Just a Change we do a prioritization of houses and families that need Just a Change's Intervention.
Once the interventions are selected, Just a Change is in charge for mobilizing the main resources needed for the project’s implementation.
Throughout the construction Just a Change focuses on creating relationships with its beneficiaries and managing the affairs with the partners to enhance the social impact. During the intervention Just a Change encourages the beneficiaries to take part in the works.
With the network of local partners Just a Change ensures the changes and impact achieved during the rehabilitation works are not lost, by guaranteeing every family is followed and helped in other social issues by social workers.
JUST A CHANGE PROGRAMMES
We have developed various interventions programmes, letting us to intervene in different contexts at the same time. These allow us to raise the social cohesion and impact in the local communities.
CAMP IN
In the summer, Just a Change camps (7 to 12 days programme), take place in the contryside of Portugal, generating social impact in the local communities.
KEEP UP
The work never stops at Just a Change! Even during the academic holidays we organize one-week-long bootcamps in the cities of Lisbon and Porto.
ALL IN
One intense day where companies can go all in with us, where their staff can have a social impact and get their hands dirty.
Help us reach out to more families.
TEAM
Lourenço Almeida e Brito
Chairman of the Board
António Bello
Executive Director
Simão Oom
Director of Operations
Mafalda Negrão
Department of Strategy and Development
Rita Lucena
Coordinator of Communication & Fundraising
Luísa Pinto
Admistration & Finance
José Afonso
Comercial Manager
Guilherme Fogaça
Operacional Coordinator Lisbon
João Captivo
Operacional Coordinator Lisbon
Constança Dias
Department of Communication & Fundraising
Amado Luwawa
Technician Lisbon
PARTNERS
"Effectively, change is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation and consensus."
Simon Mainwaring
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 goal, whether working on the issue of housing and energy poverty, or with support in kind or building material.
All partners take us further, whether they accompany us just one step or follow us all the way.
Since 2018, EDP has assumed itself as Just a Change's main partner in the fight against energy poverty. We both believe in the potential of energy as a vehicle to fight poverty, and that's what fuels this partnership. We are convinced that this partnership allows each party to have a positive impact on society and its ecosystem.
There are several points of collaboration: mobilization and promotion of internal corporate volunteering, installation of solar panels and highly efficient equipment, energy certification and social investment.
As a result of this partnership, we highlight the following results:
// Mobilization of 37 EDP employees for on-site volunteering and skills volunteering. Resulting in 195 hours of volunteering.
// Issue of 26 energy certificates for rehabilitated houses, to support and guide the energy rehabilitation to be carried out in houses.
// Installation of a photovoltaic solar system for self-consumption.
// Installation of 13 highly energy efficient equipment.
// In 65% of the houses analyzed, there was an increase in the level of energy classification after the joint intervention.
In all, we received support from EDP amounting to €13,500 in kind and €25,500 in social investment. Together, in 2020, we took energy rehabilitation to 22 homes and 2 social institutions.
The Manuel António da Mota Foundation has been the main Foundation partner of Just a Change. Since 2017, we have together rehabilitated houses in Porto, Vila Pouca de Aguiar and more recently in Alandroal. In all these regions, the Manuel António da Mota Foundation finances the interventions. In addition to financing the operation, the Foundation promotes the work of Just a Change with other partners, opening doors for new partnerships and taking the project to other regions.
In 2020, with a total Foundation funding of €50,000 and a remaining €84,000 from other partners raised together, we achieved the following results:
// 15 rehabilitated houses (6 in Porto, 5 in Alandroal and 4 in Vila Pouca de Aguiar)
// 30 Beneficiaries supported
// 213 volunteers mobilized
Since we were present in Porto, the Manuel António da Mota Foundation has been the main funder of the project for the region, allowing us to grow and reach more people and regions every year.
The solution developed by Just a Change involves rehabilitating degraded housing in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area through the training of external actors, that is, local replicating nuclei.
The Portugal Inovação Social Mission Structure co-finances the Dissemination Project, together with other private and public funders, we propose to spread the Just a Change rehabilitation solution.
The objective is to implement a replication model, across the entire AML and then across the country, allowing independent actors to respond directly to the causes of the problem.
Over three years (2020-2022), we hope to support 2184 direct beneficiaries, attract 2290 national and 150 international volunteers.
To date, 1 pilot has been carried out with the Missão País, in Gradil – Mafra.
IKEA supports the fight against Housing Poverty, with the rehabilitation of homes for needy families in the Algarve, one of the regions most affected by the effects of COVID-19.
Just a Change and IKEA have aligned a partnership centered on the idea that “our Home is the most important space in the world!”. For this, we selected the Algarve as the intervention region, where we will mobilize local public and private partners.
The partnership includes the mobilization of local IPSS for signaling and monitoring, with whom the management of cases of greater housing, social and economic precariousness is articulated.
During the summer of 2021, we will mobilize between 200 and 300 volunteers.
The aim of this project goes beyond providing renovated and accessible houses for those living in housing poverty. We want to break vicious cycles of poverty, and to ensure that we are on the right path, we are going to pay attention to some indicators:
// 15 to 30 houses rehabilitated;
// 30 to 60 families supported and with better quality of life;
// 5 to 15 local institutions mobilized;
// More than 50% of homes renovated with improvements in the energy rating level.
We count on Prio's support for our fuel needs, which derive from the high transport load (materials, equipment, people, waste) of our operation.
Since 2018, Prio has accompanied us and allowed us to make more efficient use of resources, so that we can bring our impact to more people.
Leroy Merlin has joined Just a Change to promote a decent and sustainable habitat for all.
In 2021, we will boost several initiatives, involving 1200 Leroy Merlin volunteers, with the objective of improving the living conditions of people living in situations of housing poverty.
Municipal and regional
Social investors
Technical, management and resources
Do you want to be our partner and support us to change the world?
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