Regulations

Article 1

Presentation

1. The 4th edition of the AproXima-te Award is entitled Innovative Initiatives.
2. The AproXima-te Award is an initiative of Plano AproXima and the Social Responsibility Department of Classificados X, hereinafter referred to in these Regulations as the “Organization.”
3. Plano AproXima is the entity responsible for organizing the Award and all its stages.
4. The sponsor of the AproXima-te Award is Classificados X.
5. Through the awarding of this prize, the Organization commits to financially supporting collectives, projects, and entities that provide services to sex workers and to clients of paid sex.
6. The Award will be promoted on the Plano AproXima website, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as on the Blog X of Classificados X.
   Applications and voting must be submitted online, using the corresponding application forms available in Articles 3 and 4 of these Regulations.
7. The public announcement of the official opening of the online voting for the AproXima-te Award will take place on July 2, 2024 and will end on September 6, 2024.
8. The award will be presented in person, whenever possible and when agreed by the parties.

Article 2

Purpose

These Regulations aim to:

a) Define the rules for the 1st Prize:
    i) Establish the rules for awarding the 1st Prize.
    ii) Describe the procedures for submitting applications.
    iii) Define the evaluation methodology.

b) Define the rules for the 2nd Prize:
    i) Establish the rules for awarding the 2nd Prize.
    ii) Describe the procedures for selecting the winners through online voting.

c) Define the method for selecting the Honorable Mention.

Article 3

Selection of the 1st Prize

Submission of applications

1. Entities must explain in their application how the prize amount will be used to implement an activity, campaign, or other practice that promotes the rights of people who engage in sex work.
2. Community-based entities, projects, or collectives that provide essential services to sex workers will be distinguished; however, projects that also respond to vulnerabilities of other subpopulations will be valued.
3. Applications may be submitted between July 2, 2024 and September 6, 2024 via the following form:
   https://forms.gle/uxdzDdqw4N3iXTD4

a) The Organization is not responsible for non-receipt of applications by the established deadline.

b) Branches or local units of an entity are considered distinct entities. Therefore, the same organization may submit different applications, provided they relate to different branches. Only the most recent submission will be considered in cases of multiple applications per branch.

c) To track applications, interested entities must have a Gmail account and be logged into Google when completing the form. This prevents duplicate applications.

d) Submission of an application implies acceptance of the rules of these Regulations.

e) All private, non-profit institutions, entities, collectives, or other civil society organizations at regional or local level that provide direct services, within mainland Portugal or the Autonomous Regions, to people who engage in sex work are eligible.

f) Institutions belonging to the National Health Service, the Directorate-General of Health (DGS), the Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS, I.P.), Regional Health Administrations (ARS), the Regional Directorate of Health of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, and the Regional Secretariat of Health of the Autonomous Region of Madeira are not eligible.

4. Evaluation:

a) Applications will be evaluated by an impartial panel with exclusive access to previously anonymized proposals through the assignment of an identification code. Each jury member will assign a score from 0 to 3 to each evaluation parameter. The scores will then be summed by a representative of Plano AproXima. The proposal with the highest score will be declared the winner.

b) The winning entity will be the one with the highest score.

c) Evaluation Grid.

Parameters are scored on a scale from 0 to 3, where “0” represents the minimum score and “3” the maximum score.

Table 1- Parameters and evaluation grid

d) Applications will be assessed by an independent panel knowledgeable about the evaluation criteria. The evaluation panel is composed of: Alexandra Oliveira (Professor and Researcher at the University of Porto); Amanda Gomes (peer educator); Ana Rosa (Master’s in Anthropology and research fellow in the PhD program in Gender Studies — ISCSP-UL); Luís Pimentel (Clinical Psychologist and Coordinator of CISS Porto); Mara Clemente (Researcher at the Centre for Sociological Research and Studies of ISCTE-IUL); Maria José (Master’s in Public Health and Regional Coordinator of the HIV Infection Program and the Self-Esteem Program); Marta Graça (Bachelor in Social Work, PhD in Education); and Raquel Guidi (Senior Social Education Officer and Human Rights Activist).

e) Each entity’s score will be adjusted according to the weightings assigned to each of the general evaluation criteria, with final scores based on the sum of the scores for each parameter listed in Annex I to these Regulations. Any item left unanswered in the general evaluation criteria will receive a score of “0” in the final ondering.

f)

In the event of a tie, the tie-breaking criterion will be the sum of the scores obtained by the tied applications in the following evaluation parameters, in order of importance:

• “Innovation and Creativity”;
• “Monitoring and Evaluation”.

g) If the tie persists after applying the criterion set out in point f) of this article, the panel will award the prizes after a thorough reassessment and detailed analysis of all the information contained in the applications and responses of the tied entities.

5. The winning entities will be notified by email and phone call by October 3, 2024.

6. The winners will be announced on October 4, 2024 on the communication channels of Plano AproXima and Classificados X.

Article 4

Selection of the 2nd Prize

1. The entity, project, or collective that wins the 2nd Prize will be the one that obtains the highest number of votes through online voting.
2. Voting will take place using the following form:

   https://forms.gle/oobTUuHhwWoRMNoe7, which must be published across the different communication channels. It will be promoted on the Plano AproXima website, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as on the Blog X of Classificados X.

3. AThe associations competing correspond to partner associations of Plano AproXima up to July 30, 2024, whose target population includes people who engage in sex work and other vulnerable subpopulations, and which are part of our mapping,  mapping, totaling 25 entities:

1. 1. 1. 1. Acompanha — Cooperativa de Solidariedade Social, CRL
         2. AJPAS — Associação de Intervenção Comunitária, Desenvolvimento Social e de Saúde
         3. APDES — Porto G — Agência Piaget para o Desenvolvimento 
         4. APF — Associação para o Planeamento da Família
         5. Associação Abraço
         6. Associação Existências
         7. Associação Plano I 
         8. Associação Portuguesa para a Prevenção e Desafio à SIDA – SER+
         9. Associação Positivo — Red Light
         10. Bússola — Casa do Povo de Fermentões
         11. Cáritas Diocesana de Coimbra
         12. Centro Comunitário de Esmoriz — Dá a volta
         13. Crescer — Associação de Intervenção Comunitária
         14. SMACTE (Serviço Móvel de Apoio à Comunidade)
         15. Florinhas do Vouga
         16. Fundação Portuguesa “A Comunidade Contra a SIDA”
         17. GAT — Grupo de Ativistas em Tratamentos
         18. Liga Portuguesa Contra SIDA
         19. MAPS — Movimento de Apoio à Problemática da Sida (MAPS)
         20. MTS — Movimento dxs Trabalhadorxs do Sexo
         21. Médicos do Mundo
         22. Mundo a Sorrir — CASO
         23. Obra Social das Irmãs Oblatas de Santíssimo Redentor
         24. Porta Aberta — Emprego Primeiro
         25. SAOM — Serviços de Assistência Organizações de Maria

4. Branches or local units of an entity will not be considered distinct entities.

5. Entities will be listed in alphabetical order on the form.

6. The entities correspond to private non-profit institutions and civil society organizations, at regional or local level, that provide direct services, within mainland Portugal or the Autonomous Regions, to people who engage in sex wo

7. To participate, it is necessary to be of legal age and enter the date of birth in the application form.

8. The application form will be limited to one response per person. For this reason, a Gmail account and login to Google are required at the time of completion. This allows tracking of the form and prevents duplicate votes.

9. After completing the form, each person must vote for their chosen association.

10. The winners of the online vote will be announced on October 4, 2024 on the communication channels of Plano AproXima and Classificados X.

11. In the event of a tie, the jury will award the prize to one of the most voted entities.

Article 5

Honorable Mention Prize

1. The Honorable Mention Prize will be awarded to an association that has stood out for the work carried out over the past year in favor of the rights of people who engage in sex work. This analysis will be conducted by Plano AproXima.

2. The winning entity will be notified by email and phone call by October 3, 2024.

3. The announcement of the winner will be made through the communication channels of Plano AproXima and Blog X, with due justification.

Article 6

Exclusion criteria for votes

1. Applications submitted outside the competition period will not be evaluated.

2. Online votes submitted outside the competition period will not be considered.

Article 7

Exclusion criteria

1. The jury will not consider applications that:

           a) Are submitted after the deadline;

           b) Come from entities that do not fall under point 1 of Article 5 of these Regulations and that do not have legal personality.

2. Applicant entities rejected after administrative and eligibility analysis will be informed, by email, of the reasons for rejection at this stage and may appeal this decision within 5 working days after receipt of the email.

3. The jury has the authority to decide not to award the prize to projects if it does not recognize the necessary quality in the applications.

Article 8

Prizes

• The prizes consist of financial support for the applications selected as winners and will be distributed as follows:

• 1st Prize — €10,000 to the entity with the highest application score.

• 2nd Prize — €6,000 to the entity most voted for by the public.

• 3rd Prize — Honorable Mention — €4,000 to the entity selected by Plano AproXima.

2. The financial support will be made available by bank transfer, after the disclosure and acceptance of the prize, on a date to be agreed between the parties.

3. For the prize to be awarded, each winning entity must issue a receipt to the funding entity for the corresponding prize amount.

Article 9

Disclosure of results

Results will be first communicated to the winners, by email and phone, by October 3, 2024.

The official announcement will take place on October 4, 2024 through the Organization’s communication channels, including the official Plano AproXima website, Instagram, Facebook, and Blog X of Classificados X.

Article 10

Confidentiality

The Organization ensures full confidentiality of the information provided in the voting form, as well as any other information shared during the voting processes.

Article 11

Final provisions

Any questions regarding these Regulations should be sent by email to the Organization at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Annex I

Scoring of parameters

Each parameter will be scored from 0 to 3, where “0” represents a very weak evaluation and “3” represents an excellent evaluation. Parameters are weighted according to their relative importance, taking into account the objective of the award.

1. Experience of the promoting entity and team (5%)

a) Does not present elements or has no experience.
b) Has experience in the health field, but not in the area of intervention of the present application.
c) Has experience only in the health field and in the area of intervention of the present application.
d) Has experience in several fields and in the area of intervention of the present application.

2. Clarity and Coherence of the Proposal (15%)

a) Objectives, activities, and relevance are nonexistent.
b) Objectives are unclear, activities poorly explained, and relevance nonexistent.
c) Objectives are clear, activities explained, but relevance lacking.
d) Objectives and activities are explained and relevant.

3. Expected Impact (20%)

3.1. Beneficiaries (10%)

a) Beneficiaries not identified.
b) Beneficiaries identified, but with unclear estimates.
c) Beneficiaries identified with reasonable estimates.
d) Beneficiaries clearly identified with well-founded and detailed estimates.

3.2. Results (10%)

a) Expected results are vague or not identified.
b) Expected results are unclear and poorly justified.
c) Expected results are clear, but not fully justified.
d) Expected results are clear and justified.

4. Feasibility and Implementation (20%)

4.1. Action Plan (10%)

a) Action plan nonexistent or very vague.
b) Action plan partially defined.
c) Action plan reasonably defined, but with gaps.
d) Action plan well defined, detailed, and feasible.

4.2. Organizational Capacity (5%)

a) Team not detailed and entity’s experience not explained.
b) Capacity very limited or poorly demonstrated.
c) Capacity well demonstrated and convincing.
d) Capacity very well demonstrated, with clear team experience and qualifications.

4.3. Budget (5%)

a) Budget nonexistent or very inadequate.
b) Budget partially defined and not convincing.
c) Budget reasonably defined.
d) Budget well defined and detailed.

5. Innovation and Creativity — Innovative Approaches (10%)

a) No information allowing evaluation of innovative methods.
b) No innovative methodology and no potential to generate added value based on expected results.
c) Reasonable innovative methodologies and creativity.
d) Clear and convincing innovation and creativity.

6. Participation and Inclusion — Community Involvement (5%)

a) No demonstration of community involvement.
b) Very limited community involvement.
c) Reasonable community involvement.
d) Clear and well-demonstrated community involvement.

7. Inclusion and Diversity (5%)

a) No inclusion and diversity measures presented.
b) Very limited inclusion and diversity measures.
c) Clear and well-demonstrated inclusion and diversity measures.
d) Very clear, comprehensive, and well-demonstrated inclusion and diversity measures.

8. Monitoring and Evaluation — Implementation Indicators (20%)

a) Does not present a monitoring plan.
b) Presents a monitoring plan inadequate to the defined objectives.
c) Presents a monitoring plan with appropriate methods and tools, but with insufficient or poorly formulated indicators in relation to the defined objectives.
d) Presents a monitoring plan with appropriate methods and tools and clearly identified, quantified, and objective-appropriate indicators.