One mural, “No Poverty,” shows a Black woman tenderly braiding the hair of a white woman — a snapshot of family bonds that grew out of difficult times.

Another, called “No Hunger,” depicts a local woman showing children her vegetable garden so they know where their food comes from.

They are among a collection of giant murals at a housing project on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital Lisbon that tell tales of intimacy, resilience and sustainable living.

The colorful art decorating the sides of almost identical five-story apartment blocks, amid washing hanging out to dry and rows of parked cars, aims to showcase United Nations' sustainable development goals that strike a chord in the neighborhood.

The goals include reducing inequality and decent jobs.

The project has earned national and international attention.

It has also inspired a measure of local pride that was in short supply among the ethnically diverse community in this underprivileged neighborhood.

The conspicuous murals aim to draw a link between the lives of local people and the 17 goals at the heart of the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The goals also include quality education, good health and well-being, and fighting poverty — goals the U.N. says are in trouble.

The project was the brainchild of the CAZAmbujal association, a group of locals whose slogan is “Changing the world together,” and the Ad Gentes association, which run it together.

For the mural project it invited people, some of whom had never painted on a wall, to try their hand at outdoor art, says Vitor Monteiro, the 51-year-old head of CAZAmbujal.

Monteiro studied social services and knows the neighbourhood inside out.

His son is also learning how to be a guide for the SDGs. Youth training and development is one of the pillars of the project, as well as promotion of the local businesses such as shops and restaurants.

The UN’s SDGs, as they are commonly referred to, were adopted in 2015 as a plan of action for a better future.

Gender equality, good health, water and sanitation, ending poverty and hunger are some of the main topics they aim to call attention to.

The founders of the project Zambujal 360 invited Portuguese artists from several parts of the country and for two years they met the people of the neighbourhood and got to know their stories before getting to work.

The idea was to reflect some of those real life stories on the murals depicting the SDGs.

In Zambujal, multiculturalism is not just a word on the staircase that is one of the main entry points to its streets.

According to the organizers and the UN, this is the first social housing neighbourhood in the world dedicated to the promotion of the SDGs.

It was inaugurated in October and the official visits began shortly afterwards.

Schools, university students, companies looking for social commitment partnerships and others have already shown interest in taking part.

AP Video by Helena Alves