Descrição da organização

The Grupo de Acção Social do Tagus, GASTagus, is a Portuguese non-profit youth organization that establishes development
education and cooperation projects. Its main objective is to raise awareness amongst the young Portuguese population towards the importance of human dignity, through promotion and implementation of volunteer activities in Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Brazil. In this regard and in order to fulfil its vision, the GASTagus Mission is:

• To integrate and value the volunteers’ social and cultural diversity, creating an opportunity for discussion and gathering, regardless of their origin
• To culturally and personally enrich the volunteers, through the understanding and practice of the GASTagus pillars, which are essential for the group experience, for carrying out volunteer activities and for the social and individual development that each volunteer is expected to reach
• To enable, through volunteering, the active and conscious participation of young people in society and the world.

As mentioned earlier, GASTagus rests on four pillars:
• Commitment and Service, because only a total availability and dedication – to others, to the group, to partners and to the work – allows a true sharing and apprehension of the surrounding reality
• Renunciation and Simplicity, because we live in a world full of new technologies and material goods that guide us away from what is truly essential: human relationships. This pillar demands a closer look at the fellow man in its own reality and an abdication of what is superfluous
• Team and Friendship, because no one walks alone and it’s easier to overcome obstacles when one lives and works within a community, respecting and valuing the opinions of others in an attempt to create a familiar environment, where each one feels part of it and brings this experience to his/her life outside GASTagus
• Continuity and Sustainability, because GASTagus does not create its own individual projects but instead promotes the empowerment of its partners in a sustainable and rigorous way, so as not to compromise projects that are already in progress or other projects to come. Moreover, each volunteer acts on behalf of GASTagus and not individually, so he/she is a representative of the association with the partner and must be accountable for his/her actions to prevent the jeopardy of future collaborations.

Young people who participate in the project end up having contact with populations in more vulnerable socio-economic situations which makes them more tolerant to different socio-economic conditions, and promotes less stereotyped and more sympathetic attitudes towards people that do not have the same wealth and life conditions. After completing this project, the participants are also much more aware and willing to participate in social projects aimed at reducing the existing inequalities at today’s society.