The service users of the Portuguese Association of Parents and Friends of the Mentally Disabled Citizen (APPACDM) of Coimbra will continue to ensure the cleaning of streets and sidewalks in Portela, Vila Franca, and Quinta da Malavada in 2026.
The Parish Council of Santo António dos Olivais, in the municipality of Coimbra, and the Ambiente company and the Center for Activities and Capacity Building for Inclusion, both belonging to APPACDM of Coimbra, signed yesterday a protocol to guarantee, for the second consecutive year, cleaning services in the three areas.
The president of the Parish Council of Santo António dos Olivais, José Francisco Rodeiro, recently re-elected to his second term, stated that this is a protocol the Council hopes to renew annually, for the coming years of his mandate.
At the signing ceremony of the document, in Coimbra, the mayor assured that the Council seeks, thus, “to ensure, as it has ensured, an excellent intervention by APPACDM in cleaning the spaces,” entrusted to the Council by the Coimbra City Hall.
Rodeiro also gave particular importance to integrating into the world of work “the citizens who are cared for by APPACDM.”
“The experience accumulated in the year 2025 shows that it is a winning and important bet,” he said.
The Parish Council of Santo António dos Olivais will pay for this service, which will be carried out by eight employees from Ambiente and by eight service users from the Center for Activities and Capacity Building for Inclusion, an amount of about €1,860 per month, an increase of about €300 compared with 2025 (the amount was around €1,500).
The president of the Council described the relationship with APPACDM de Coimbra as “fruitful and beneficial,” both in the public interest of keeping the zones clean, and in terms of financially supporting the institution.
“The very population [of the intervened areas], according to the information we receive, cherishes very much those who work there and look after these streets,” he said.
The president of the APPACDM de Coimbra board, Helena Albuquerque, reinforced that residents have responded positively to the workers, noting that the protocol “translates the support of civil society to the institution.”
The official also highlighted the quality of the service provided by the service users, some of them “with disabilities or coming from highly disadvantaged groups,” as is the case with the Ambiente company workers, or “with more severe disabilities,” in the case of the Center for Activities and Capacity Building for Inclusion.
According to Helena Albuquerque, the workers from Ambiente have a formal employment contract and, in the case of the service users of the Center for Activities and Capacity Building for Inclusion, they are collaborating under a protocol of socially useful activities, earning monetary compensation at the end of the month.
Under the scope of the signed agreement, the workers will proceed to cleaning of greenery that grows on sidewalks, remove leaves, and collect litter left on the street, such as cans and bottles, in eight kilometres of roadways, carried out in a daily, fractional manner, as specified by the secretary of the board and administrative director of APPACDM de Coimbra, José Júlio Pacheco.
