FOR ALL TO SEE: three photos in shades of red are displayed on a light blue background. Each one depicts a professional category. On the left, a traditional fisherwoman appears wearing a hat and carrying a fishing net; in the center, a waste picker pushes a wheelbarrow piled high with cardboard; on the right, a group of women union members sitting at tables during a meeting. Above the photos, in large black letters, there is the text: “Call for Proposals 2026 – Empowering informal workers in the fight for rights.”
INTRODUCTION
Labora invites organizations, collectives, groups, unions, and social movements that fight for decent working and living conditions for workers to submit funding proposals under this call.
This is VI Labora Call for Proposals, an initiative of Brazil Fund—in partnership with Laudes Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Open Society Foundations—to strengthen and expand the support for civil society’s struggle in defense of workers’ rights in Brazil.
With two strategic areas, one focused on grassroots organizations and the other dedicated to proposals for advocacy and strengthening of coordinated actions/networking, 25 projects will be supported for a maximum period of 12 months, totaling up to BRL 1,500,000.00 in grants, as detailed below.
BACKGROUND
The year 2025 once again proved the strength of collective organization of working people throughout the Brazilian territory.
Mobilizations all year long gained visibility and achieved material progress, such as the approval of a Bill exempting from income tax those who earn up to BRL 5,000 per month and increasing taxation on incomes exceeding BRL 50,000. At COP 30 in the city of Belém do Pará, social and union movements denounced how the exploitation of labor and natural resources intensifies climate change, which directly impacts ways of life in cities, rural areas, bodies of water, and forests. Another milestone was the regulation of the National Care Plan, which recognizes care as a right and acknowledges the central role of women working in this sector. In the same year, the Family Farming Harvest Plan reinforced the importance of healthy food production and increased investments in agroecology, cooperatives, and protection against extreme weather events.
Despite such progress, the reality where dignified work and well-being are intertwined remains a distant prospect. The more than 103 million workers who provide for the majority of the Brazilian population still face structural obstacles that hamper their access to income, safety, and social protection. Among them are app-based workers, exposed to long shifts with no social rights; family farmers, over 60% of whom operate on an informal basis; sex workers, threatened by bills that criminalize their practices; and street vendors, peddlers, and outdoor market vendors, who perform their work without proper safeguards and under the threat of state violence.
These circumstances also impact Indigenous peoples, Quilombola communities, and other traditional communities, whose territories and ways of life—essential for the protection of biomes—are still endangered by major developments, mining, and the expansion of agribusiness. In 2025, for example, 98% of Quilombola territories were under some form of threat, and 29 Indigenous Lands in the Amazon continued to have their demarcation suspended, despite meeting all technical requirements to proceed.
Inequalities based on race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and territory aggravate the precarity. As of 2022, only 34.3% of people with disabilities were employed in the formal labor market. Only 4.5% of LGBTQIAPN+ people had a formal job, and among transgender and transvestite population, this rate dropped to 0.38%, leaving sex work as the only source of income for many of them. From a racial perspective, Black women faced unemployment rates nearly three times higher than those of white men, and Black people comprised 82% of those rescued from enslaved labor in the country.
These inequalities have reverberated in the streets and in public debate. The mobilization to end the 6×1 shift has reignited the debate over exhausting work hours and their connection to the right to rest, especially for Black women, mothers, and caregivers, who often face a double burden—a fact of life for 8 out of 10 Brazilian women. The history-making 2025 Black Women’s March brought together around 300,000 people in Brazil’s capital city. This movement resulted in a Political Manifesto committed to the fight for special social security regimes that recognize the realities of informal workers, as well as their struggle for a fair welfare system comprising the demanding nature of their jobs.
Climate emergencies have also begun to directly impact the daily lives of workers. Heat waves, floods, and extreme droughts have become more frequent: in 2024 alone, there were more than 10 extreme weather events in Brazil. In view of this scenario, workers started to place even greater emphasis on environmental agendas, advocating for a fair ecological transition that guarantees participation, autonomy, and prior consultation for Indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and groups directly affected.
In this context of political, social, economic, and environmental transformations, workers, organizations, collectives, social movements, and unions have shown that collective organization is essential to move forward in defense of decent work, social protection, and a just transition. In recognition of this strength and their challenges, Labora is launching the Call for Proposals 2026 – Empowering Informal Workers in the Fight for Rights, calling for proposals aimed to strengthen workers facing informality or precarity across the country.
PRIORITY AREAS
The Call for Proposals 2026 – Empowering Informal Workers in the Fight for Rights will support civil society organizations, social movements, unions, collectives, and groups seeking to advance the causes of decent work, social protection, and just transition, with a special focus on strengthening the struggle of informal and/or precarious workers, particularly:
- workers in the care economy: domestic workers, caregivers, doulas, among others;
- sex workers;
- digital platform/app-based workers;
- recycling workers;
- street vendors, peddlers, and outdoor market vendors;
- salaried and unsalaried rural workers, peasants, encamped people, landless workers, and settlers;
- fishing workers, extractive workers, shellfishers, and others who work in waters and forests;
- international migrant workers;
- workers with disabilities;
- workers in the fashion supply chain;
- LGBTQIAPN+ workers, with a focus on the transgender population;
- Indigenous workers;
- Quilombola workers and/or workers from other traditional communities;
- workers living in marginalized areas, with a focus on Black youth;
- workers hit by extreme weather events or who are directly experiencing the impact of climate change in their work;
- precarious workers in general, especially those in sectors directly related to the energy transition (electricity/utilities sector), critical minerals, among others.
In this cycle, there will be two focus areas:
- Area 01 – Proposals aimed at the institutional strengthening and development of grassroots organizations working in defense of decent work, social protection, and just transition and led by workers directly impacted by precarity and informality, seeking to consolidate these organizations and expanding opportunities for these individuals to engage in labor movements. Organizations not led by these political actors, but which significantly include them in their projects, may also apply; provided that they have a proven link/relationship with the target audience.
- Area 02 – Advocacy proposals aimed at developing or reinforcing more just standards and public policies within the scope of decent work, social protection, and just transition; promoting social participation; and strengthening collaborative work and intersectoral coordination among organizations, social movements, and other civil society groups.
In both areas, the call for proposals will give priority to proposals that explicitly connect the issues of decent work, social protection, and just transition with inequalities related to race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, the physical and mental health of workers, location, among other social markers of inequality, and that propose measures (e.g., production of evidence, norms, regulations, and public policies) to address these historical inequalities in an intersectional basis.
With regard to the courses of action, priority will be given to proposals that encompass one or more of the following initiatives:
- Education and mobilization of workers, including the development of common agendas and the renewal of workers’ collective organization;
- Advocacy initiatives at the local level (e.g., city councils and city governments), regional level (e.g., state legislatures and state governments), national level (e.g., Brazilian Congress and the Executive Branch), and international level (e.g., World Economic Forum, UN General Assemblies, G20 meetings, and the United Nations Climate Change Conferences – COP), to shine a spotlight on the issues of decent work, social protection, and just transition, particularly for informal and/or precarious workers, and to propose positive multiplier-effect changes that can be applied to different occupational categories;
- Strategic use of communication as a tool for reporting violations and accountability, as well as for shining a spotlight on the issues of decent work, social protection, and just transition;
- Measures to strengthen social participation in decision-making processes, promoting the leading role of historically marginalized groups in public bodies (committees, councils, working groups) and civil society policy-making spaces (forums, networks, national meetings);
- Alternatives for solidarity economy and agroecology (e.g., cooperatives, associations, producer networks) that prioritize the leading role and community self-organization of workers in their territories and promote decent working conditions and fair pay across all Brazilian biomes;
- Articulating decent work agenda and just transition, connecting the climate emergency issue with the need to guarantee decent work and social protection;
- Building intersectoral alliances among organizations, social movements, and supported groups, from an intersectional perspective.
Priority will also be given to organizations led by those most directly impacted by precarity and informality, especially the occupational categories mentioned above.
PLEASE NOTE: The criteria for classification under each of the areas will be the type of the proposed activities. Therefore, it is important to carefully read the call for proposals and understand what may be supported under Areas 01 and 02. If a submitted project meets the general requirements of this call but its activities do not fall within the scope of Area 2, it may still be considered for grant, provided that the actions and budget are revised accordingly.
NUMBER OF GRANTS AND FUNDING AMOUNT
A maximum of 20 proposals of Area 01 will receive grants of up to BRL 50,000.00 each, and 5 proposals of Area 02 will receive grants of up to BRL 100,000.00 each, totaling 25 grants over a period of up to 12 months.
Labora encourages fiscal partnerships as a way of mutually strengthening civil society. Fiscal partners supporting organizations without legal status and registered in Area 01 may also request an additional BRL 5,000.00 for operational costs related to the administration of the grant (totaling, in these cases, grants of BRL 55,000.00 each). Any administrative costs regarding Area 02 must be included in the general budget of up to BRL 100,000.00.
CONDITIONS TO APPLY
Labora will accept proposals submitted by Brazilian non-profit organizations, groups, collectives, unions, and social movements, even if they are not officially registered and/or do not bear a CNPJ (Brazilian Corporate Taxpayer ID). Unregistered organizations must have a fiscal partner with valid documentation to enter into an agreement and receive the grant. Selected organizations must designate their fiscal partner and submit documents only at the time of contracting, that is, only if they are selected for receiving the grant.
There is no restriction on the submission of proposals by organizations that currently have ongoing support from Brazil Fund.
We will not accept proposals:
— submitted by organizations that do not operate within the parameters established by Brazilian law;
— from governmental organizations;
— from international organizations and their local offices;
— from political parties or political-party groups;
— from public or private companies;
— submitted by individuals or individual microentrepreneurs (MEI);
— submitted by organizations unable to prove a connection, partnership, or engagement with the target audience and/or communities and territories impacted by the project.
IMPORTANT DIMENSIONS FOR PROJECT SELECTION
- Alignment with the priority areas and the topic of this call for proposals;
- Applicants must be organizations led by workers affected by precarity and informality, or that substantially include these individuals in their operations;
- Focus on the racial, ethnic, and gender dimensions, as well as the dimensions of immigrant labor and workers’ physical and mental conditions, which determine their positions in the formal and informal labor markets and the multiple violations of labor rights in Brazil;
- Participation in only one of the thematic areas of the call;
- Adoption of a rights-oriented approach; We will not fund initiatives exclusively geared towards, for example, but not limited to, income generation, professional or educational training, cultural production, welfare support, or academic research that do not include an explicit rights advocacy component (e.g., education, promotion of collective organization, social participation, collective mobilization for rights, advocacy, and other manifestations of this component);
- Promotion of networking with multiplier effect;
- Support to grassroot movements: Organizations with little to no access to other sources of funding will have priority;
- Existence of links between the organization and the groups or communities affected by the problem to be addressed;
- Consistency of the proposal, as well as adequacy of the budget to the intended activities;
- Regional diversity.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PROJECT?
Proposals may be submitted from December 17, 2025 to February 9, 2026, by 6 p.m. (GMT-3).
Projects to compete for Labora/Brazil Human Rights Fund grants must be submitted through the Project Portal. Please follow the instructions below, based on the status of your group/organization:
- If you have already submitted projects, access the portal through this link, insert your username and password. If you cannot remember your password, click “Esqueci a senha” and follow the instructions to create a new password. Access the detailed instructions here..
- If you are registering for the first time, access the portal using this link, click “Primeiro Acesso” and fill in your group’s details. Access the detailed instructions here..
- Application must be done at once since our portal does not permit saving part of the completed form to finish it later.
- Therefore, you can find here an editable version of the draft application form. This way, you can familiarize yourself with the content before actually starting the application process. This version is for informational purposes only and is not valid as an application.
- In addition, we offer a budget template to be attached to the system.
Don’t leave it to the last moment: create/update your password or register your organization, group, or collective now and send your project the earliest possible.
Proposals can only be submitted online. We do not receive proposals by e-mail, nor do we accept projects delivered directly to the Brazil Fund’s headquarters.
Proposals that are not submitted within the submission period will not be accepted under any circumstances. Thus, we strongly recommend that you do not wait until the last day to submit your proposal.
Labora/Brazil Human Rights Fund will not extend the deadline for this call.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PROJECT AFTER IT IS SENT TO LABORA?
Labora’s team carries out an initial screening of all projects received in order to confirm the compliance with the requirements specified in this call for proposals. Subsequently, the projects are forwarded to an Evaluation Committee composed of independent experts. The Committee will convene to determine which projects will be supported, and Labora’s Steering Committee will determine the final list of projects to be supported.
Please note: formalization of support is contingent upon the completion of the due diligence (submission and verification of documents and information delivered with the project), conducted by the Labora team, which must issue a recommendation in favor of contracting.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF WINNING PROPOSALS
The results of the selection process will be released on Brazil Fund website and social media channels, including by -email, as of May 1, 2026.
KEY DATES
- Opening date: December 17, 2025
- Q&A session: January 28, 2026
- Deadline: February 9, 2026, by 6 p.m. (GMT-3)
- Announcement of winning proposals: May 1, 2026
LABORA FUND
This is the sixth call for proposals launched under Labora, an initiative of the Brazil Fund in partnership with the Laudes Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations.
Labora seeks to strengthen civil society organizations, unions, and social groups and movements that work to protect and promote workers’ rights in Brazil, particularly with regard to informal and precarious labor, from an intersectional perspective, recognizing that markers of ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, and territory structurally shape the production and reproduction of social inequalities in Brazil.
For more information, visit Labora website.
QUESTIONS
Before submitting your question, please check the list of frequently asked questions in this webpage.
Questions will be answered only by email. Please write to [email protected].
Questions about the application mechanisms will be answered through the e-mail [email protected].
You can also download the call for proposal PDF, with all the information and links for the application, by clicking here.