Portugal: Henrique Pinto, executive director at Cais

Cais, with headquarters in Lisbon, was created in 1993 with the main objective of supporting the homeless. What first started out as a street magazine, more or less on the model of the Big Issue, has in the last 5 years become a vibrant organisation capable of creating social inclusion projects oriented to the support of the homeless and intervention strategies aimed at civil society and politics.

Vita Europe interviewed Cais? 44 year old Executive director, Henrique Pinto.

How long have you been working in the non profit sector?
I have always been involved in social issues, even though my formal training is more philosophical and theological. Before becoming involved in Cais I worked in East Timor and several European countries and with the Italian Missionari della Consolata (based in Turin, Italy) in Kenya and Tanzania.

When was Cais founded and how did you come to be its executive director?
I belonged to the group that created Cais in 1993/4, after that I went to London to continue my studies at the University of London where I remained until 2001. I returned to Lisbon to start a project to promote dialogue between cultures and religions but around that time Cais was facing a terrible economic situation and was threatened by closure. I decided to dedicate my time full time to Cais then.

How is Cais funded?
Cais receives support from the Portuguese government, but the amount, 8,500 euros per year, only covers some of the magazine?s production costs. We have in recent years been living a miracle, in that our staff has increased from 3 to 15. We have been able to do this by creating and selling social projects that catch both the attention and the investments of business?. Business? look to us as pioneers in the field, as an organisation that has good ideas with good results. Today we are looking at becoming even more economically sustainable, by creating a bakery, a social news agency and a body to monitor and certify social projects, especially those implemented by businesses.

What issues does Cais? magazine deal with?
Contrary to some other street magazines, like the Big Issue, the content was never thought to serve the population that sells it. The magazine is produced by Cais staff together with a huge network of collaborators from across Portugal and includes writers, journalists and photographers, so it is not written by the homeless, even though we do often write about their stories. When the magazine came out in 1993 it was the only Portuguese magazine entirely dedicated to photography, but in April 2007 we changed our editorial direction and now publish essays on politics and economics written by a range of experts who generously work with us for free. We nevertheless have maintained some of the previous format and dedicate about 20 pages to high quality photography work.

Where does the money from the sale of the magazine go?
The magazine is sold exclusively by homeless people, so 70% of the sale price goes to them. The remaining 30% is divided between Cais and Cais? social partners who help in the distribution.

According to you, what are the main challenges that the Portuguese third sector faces today?
Economic sustainability. The third sector in Portugal takes care of 70% of the social work and yet receives little or no financial help from the government. I have always thought that we should be addressed as the first sector rather than the third sector – often the third sector is seen as a service that can be called in as you would a fire brigade, when the state fails here we come running, and this causes a real identity crisis in the non profit world. People who work in the third sector are treated as second class workers, badly paid and overlooked.

And what are the challenges for the third sector more generally?
Certainly one challenge is presented by the generalised crisis of representation ? it is no longer clear whom represents whom and people do not trust their leaders anymore. This is a problem because the third sector needs strong leadership and one that is not ego centric.

What do you mean?
Businesses these days are overly concerned with their image, their make and their brand, and this has also affected the third sector. There are many foundations, associations and NGOs out there that put more energy into their brand than the people they mean to help.

How do you think that the third sector will rise to the representation challenge?
Well, I think that there is less trust in leaders because people are more suspicious, and this is a good thing. I believe that society as a whole should be more demanding, not just of the state or companies but also of the third sector. It is they who must demand a better leadership. One of the things I am most proud of at Cais is that we are becoming more politically active, we obviously do not back any political party, but we are convincing our social partners that unless we become more political transformation will never take place. That?s why as a sector we must stop dealing with crisis solving and focus our attention on lobbying.

Do you think there is the potential for partnerships to be established between the profit and the non profit sector?
Yes, the biggest challenge is how to integrate social concern and for-profit activities. It is important to acknowledge that we do need to produce wealth and that this is business? job, but quite often the for-profit attitude overlooks people, in the same way that the non-profit world overlooks profit. The state, the third sector and business work parallel to each other, instead they must learn to put service to the community at the centre of their concerns, even when their priorities are not directly involved with the community.

Do you think that the Portuguese EU presidency will have an impact on civil society in Portugal?
No, they are too busy with technology, economics, and organising international summits!

Do you have an interesting website to suggest to our readers?
Well, our website is going through a huge restructuring phase now, but we are trying to integrate all the different projects that are going on and it is still operational: www.cais.pt

If you would like to contact Henrique Pinto, please write to staff@vitaeurope.org