On 22 April 2026, HOPE Ukraine Foundation ETS took part in PAL Day – Politiche Attive del Lavoro (Active Labour Market Policies), a career-orientation event organised by the human resources company Humangest. The initiative, held in hybrid format for 15 participants, gave HOPE Ukraine the opportunity to present the EU-funded SIMPLE project to the Ukrainian community in the Veneto region and to engage directly with participants of its Italian pilot.
The SIMPLE project — Social Innovation Models to Promote Learning and Employability — was introduced by Marco Toson, President of HOPE Ukraine Foundation, and Riccardo Ferretti, Director of the Hope World project. They outlined the project’s objectives, the ongoing pilot activities supporting Ukrainian refugee women’s employability, and HOPE Ukraine’s strategy to scale up the model and build a broader, lasting support system for Ukrainians in Italy.
Alongside the SIMPLE presentation, participants learned about a range of professional and training pathways available through Humangest, including:
The session also gave an overview of how the Italian labour market operates, with particular attention to the Veneto region.
PAL Day was not only an opportunity to raise awareness of SIMPLE: it translated directly into action for the people the project supports. Two participants of the SIMPLE pilot in Italy, present at the event, registered for training opportunities offered by Humangest — a concrete step toward the employability outcomes SIMPLE is designed to deliver.
Overall, the PAL Day event supported the dissemination of SIMPLE, strengthened cooperation with an employment-support stakeholder, and helped connect Ukrainian beneficiaries with practical labour-market opportunities in Veneto.
SIMPLE (Social Innovation Models to Promote Learning and Employability) is a project co-funded by the European Union under the ESF Social Innovation+ initiative (project reference ESF-SI-2024-UA-01-0028), bringing together eight partner organisations from Poland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Croatia. The project designs, pilots and scales innovative models to strengthen the employability and integration of Ukrainian refugees across Europe. In Italy, HOPE Ukraine Foundation ETS leads the pilot supporting Ukrainian refugee women through tailored empowerment, entrepreneurship, and stakeholder-engagement activities.
Co-funded by the European Union
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Social Fund Agency. Neither the European Union nor the Granting Authority can be held responsible for them.