Portugal: INICIAR traineeship programme

Background

The INICIAR traineeship (Estágios INICIAR) aims to help young people and other unemployed individuals with qualifications at level 4 or 5 of the European qualifications framework (EQF) to access the labour market. It offers them an opportunity to gain practical work experience without having to commit to a job. 

The programme also aims to support vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence, refugees, former inmates and individuals in recovery from substance use disorders. It seeks to increase their employability, ease their transition from the education system to the labour market, and increase and improve citizens' skills, ensuring that they have opportunities to enter the workforce. 
This initiative reflects the current government's priorities of investing in strategic areas of vocational training, designing specific upskilling and reskilling programmes that respond to labour market and citizen needs. 

INICIAR traineeship programme implementation

Approved in September 2024, the INICIAR traineeship programme is managed by the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training (Instituto do Emprego e da Formação Profissional, IEFP) -the public employment service- and financed by the European funds for Portugal 2030.

IEFP annually defines the periods in which the traineeship's promoting entities (those wishing to provide traineeships) can submit applications for funding. These entities can be profit or non-profit organisations, as long as they are legally established and offer trainee positions in their organisation. 

IEFP co-finances 65% of the cost of a trainee grant, which can reach 80% in professions with gender underrepresentation, for a person with a disability, in an inland region with a low population density, and if a permanent full-time employment contract is signed with the trainee within 20 working days of the end of the traineeship.

IEFP also supports a meal allowance at the level set for public administration employees, transport for people with disabilities, and work accident insurance. 

Trainees and promoting entities: a cooperation for success

Trainees may be identified in the application or subsequently selected by the PES according to the profile indicated by the promoting entity. Traineeships lasts for 6 months, and for people with disabilities, up to 12 months.

Apart from being unemployed and having a qualification at EQF level 4 or 5, trainees must be aged between 18 and 35, or over 35 and not receiving a retirement pension. There is no age limit for vulnerable groups, and their qualification level may be lower.

The promoting entity and the trainee sign a traineeship contract before the traineeship starts, and the trainee is subject to the normal working hours, daily and weekly rest periods, holidays, absences, and health and safety regulations applicable to the promoting organisation's general workforce.

The trainee must have a supervisor designated by the promoting entity, with a skill profile appropriate for the proposed traineeship, preferably with an employment relationship with the organisation. 

At the end of the traineeship, the promoting entity awards the trainee a certificate of completion and a final evaluation.

Read more

• Ordinance No. 219/2024/1, of 23 September
• INICIAR traineeship programme 
• Portugal 2030, the Partnership agreement between Portugal and the European Commission