Francisco Santos, the mayor of Beja, and the municipality, is Global Volunteers' host in Beja, Portugal.

Beja is a modern town of over 20,000 people, and is separated into 18 parishes, all within the district of Beja. Once a seat of southern Celtic society, the region that became Beja was a strategic crossroads for the Romans during Julius Caesar’s day, and was named “Pax-Julia” in 48 BC. He elevated the town’s regional importance when he made it capital of the southernmost province of Lusitania (proposed by Napoleon in 1807). During the reign of emperor Augustus, the thriving town became "Pax Augusta".

The town was once walled against outside intruders, and boasts the highest castle in the country. It was built, together with the town walls, under the reign of King Diniz in the 13th century over the remains of a Roman castellum that had been fortified by the Moors.