South Africa/Portugal exchange week

The exchange week with social support institutions for the Portuguese Community in South Africa, an initiative named ISSO (Sustainable Social Immersion of Organizations), belonging to the PROTEA project, which has a broad objective to support and build on the capacity of institutions of the Portuguese Community in South Africa, occurred from October 25th to October 29th.

This initiative resulted from a partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE), the Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities (SECP), and the diplomatic-consular network in South Africa on the one hand, and the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML), on the other. 

The starting point for this initiative was the signing of a memorandum between both parties, in December of 2020, with the aim of jointly supporting Portuguese-based institutions that work in the social and health sectors in South Africa, striving to build its capacity of response, in order to respond more effectively to the problems affecting the most vulnerable populations.

Throughout the week, the nine technicians who came from South Africa with the goals of observing and acquiring knowledge on what our country does best regarding social support, which included technical visits to SCML equipment, and a workshop for the sharing of experiences and the evaluation of expectations. 

This workshop served as preparation for the seminar "Portuguese Communities of South Africa | Capacity Building Exchange", which took place on the 28th, at Palácio das Necessidades/MNE, and which counted on the participations of the Secretary of State of the Portuguese Communities, Berta Nunes, and of the Ombudsman of SCML, Edmundo Martinho, who reiterated the will to continue the work done in the scope of this partnership.

This seminar also counted on the participation of Paulo Pedroso and Adalberto Campos Fernandes as guest speakers to share their reflections on the "Perspectives for the Future: Social and Health Integration".

It was also possible to witness the intervention done by Portugal’s Ambassador in South Africa, Manuel Carvalho, who spoke by videoconference from Johannesburg.

During the session, there was also room for the presentation of the books "Public Policies in Longevity" and "Longevity: Knowledge and Practices at SCML" (Lisbon, SCML, 2021)

At the end of the seminar, the floor was given to the South African technicians, who gave their testimonies on their experiences throughout the week.