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Opportunities 16 July 2026

Women's leadership gets 5.8 million euros from PESSOAS 2030 — applications close 12 August

Call PESSOAS-2026-8 funds women's leadership capacity programmes with 5.8 million euros from ESF+. Social partners and business associations in Portugal can apply until 12 August 2026.

Deadline: 12 August 2026

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There are 5.8 million euros waiting for projects that put more women in decision-making roles in Portugal — and the window closes on 12 August. Call PESSOAS-2026-8, under the PESSOAS 2030 programme, funds Women’s Leadership Capacity Programmes, with 5 million coming from the European Social Fund Plus and management handled by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG).

Who can apply to call PESSOAS-2026-8?

Here’s the nuance worth catching: applications are not individual. Eligible applicants are the social partners with a seat on the Standing Committee for Social Dialogue and business, commercial and industrial associations. If you work in one of these organisations — or your company belongs to one — that is the channel through which the funding reaches women on the ground. The full call is on the PESSOAS 2030 portal, with the framework at Portugal 2030.

What must funded projects include?

The programmes target employed women and carry mandatory components: capacity-building, executive coaching, cross-mentoring, networking, and business communication and mobilisation initiatives. In other words, not one-off training — a package built to crack the glass ceiling through strategic skills and contact networks, which is exactly where it tends to hold firmest.

Questions go to the EU funds helpline (800 10 35 10). And if your association keeps postponing the application, a note: August arrives fast, and this kind of money — as the equality NGO support fund showed a few weeks ago — tends to draw a queue.

By Miguel Sarmento

Illustrative · Photo: Pavel Danilyuk / Pexels

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