Our Mission
Where the Work Happens
Three active programmes, built to grow with the people they serve.
Cultural Heritage
Colégio de São Fiel
Bringing a Landmark Back to Public Life
Our flagship initiative is the restoration of the Colégio de São Fiel, a 19th-century architectural complex in Louriçal do Campo, Castelo Branco. Once a school that educated generations of students — among them António Egas Moniz, Portugal’s Nobel laureate in Medicine — the site was devastated by fire in 2017. We are working to bring it back, not as a commercial development, but as a cultural and educational space for the region.
On 15 May 2026, the Câmara Municipal de Castelo Branco approved a favourable opinion supporting the project, recognising the restoration as being of relevant public interest.
Cultural Heritage
Colégio de São Fiel
Bringing a Landmark Back to Public Life
Our flagship initiative is the restoration of the Colégio de São Fiel, a 19th-century architectural complex in Louriçal do Campo, Castelo Branco. Once a school that educated generations of students — among them António Egas Moniz, Portugal’s Nobel laureate in Medicine — the site was devastated by fire in 2017. We are working to bring it back, not as a commercial development, but as a cultural and educational space for the region.
On 15 May 2026, the Câmara Municipal de Castelo Branco approved a favourable opinion supporting the project, recognising the restoration as being of relevant public interest.
A landmark in the foothills of the Gardunha
The Colégio de São Fiel is not a single building but a complex: the college halls, a church and sacristy, service buildings, farmland and woodland, spread across roughly 143,600 m² of grounds at Pelota, in the village of Louriçal do Campo, some 30 km from Castelo Branco.
It sits on the southern slope of the Serra da Gardunha, close to the Santa Águeda reservoir, within the Serra da Gardunha Protected Landscape. Its significance comes both from the building methods used in its construction and from the integrated heritage it holds.
Education & Leadership
Language first, then everything else follows
We partner with Aurorainsubmissa – Associação to help migrant communities settle in Portugal. At the centre of the work are Português Língua de Acolhimento (PLA) courses — the language training that underpins daily life, and that meets the requirements for residency and citizenship.
Alongside the language courses, we support access to accredited vocational training delivered with certified partners, so that learning Portuguese leads somewhere: recognised qualifications, and clearer routes into work.
Our Education Partners
Digital Inclusion
The Desi News
An independent news platform for Portugal’s South Asian community — immigration and visa updates, jobs, business, and culture, in one place.
The Desi News is an online news platform serving Portugal’s South Asian community. It covers what actually shapes people’s lives here: immigration and visa developments, the job market, business and entrepreneurship, community life, and culture.
Much of the reporting is deliberately practical. Recent coverage has explained how to find legal work in Portugal without falling for scams, what migrants should know about seasonal tourism jobs, which volunteer groups help people navigate Portuguese bureaucracy, and how the Indian Embassy in Lisbon has expanded its services for the diaspora. For someone new to the country, that information is often hard to find and easy to get wrong.
The platform also reports on the community’s contribution to Portugal — South Asian entrepreneurs revitalising Lisbon neighbourhoods, students building cultural clubs at Portuguese universities, and the growing influence of South Asian food and music on Portuguese cultural life.
Access to reliable information in your own language, about your own situation, is a form of inclusion. That is the thinking behind supporting it.
Our Network
We don't work alone
Signed agreements that turn our programmes into work on the ground.
Building an institution, not a project
Three purposes guide us: supporting the arts, restoring national heritage, and opening routes into work through education and training. Here is how we intend to grow into that mandate.
Groundwork
Completing design and approvals for the Colégio de São Fiel, following the Câmara Municipal's favourable opinion in May 2026. Formalising our partner network across training, language and cultural organisations.
Delivery
Phased restoration begins, with a local team of 30 to 40 people on site. Our language and vocational programmes move from pilot to scale, and we assess extending beyond Lisbon.
Permanence
The Museu Egas Moniz and Sala Egas Moniz open to the public. São Fiel shifts from restoration to operation, giving the region a permanent cultural venue and a standing team.
International Partnerships
Shared Horizons: Revitalizing Cultural and Artistic Bridges Between Portugal and South Asia
Bridging the Digital Divide: Why Accessible Technology is Crucial for Immigrant Integration in Portugal
