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Our Project

The SIMPLE Project (Social Innovation Models to Promote Learning and Employability) aims to identify and scale up best practices in social innovation to enhance the employability and integration of Ukrainian refugees, focusing on educational interventions and vocational training. We strive to empower vulnerable groups, particularly women and older adults, by providing targeted support to enhance their skills and employability. A key component is to promote stakeholder engagement through the quadruple helix model, ensuring active collaboration between academia, industry, government, and civil society.

Discover Our Approach

Our Approach & Training

Project SIMPLE employs a holistic and innovative methodology designed to enhance the employability and integration of Ukrainian refugees, particularly vulnerable groups such as women and older adults. This approach leverages social innovation, education, and the quadruple helix model to achieve its objectives.

Integrated Training Programs

We develop and implement tailored vocational education and training programs focusing on enhancing the skills and employability of Ukrainian refugees. This includes continuous mentoring and coaching.

User-Centered Design

Actively involves Ukrainian refugees and key stakeholders (private sector, public sector, academia, civil society) in co-designing and implementing project activities through workshops and focus groups.

Evidence-Based Approach

Utilizes comprehensive data collection and analysis to identify needs, challenges, and best practices, building on proven successes from previous EU-funded projects.

Collaborative Networks

Establishes strong partnerships with local, national, and international organizations, facilitating resource sharing and knowledge expertise to maximize impact.

Our Community & Impact

Fostering Systemic Change

At SIMPLE, we believe that true integration requires more than isolated efforts – it demands systemic change. By connecting innovation, collaboration and practical solutions, we work to create lasting impact that strengthens communities and opens new opportunities for Ukrainian refugees across Europe.

Meet Our Partners
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Press Releases

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2026-04-13
SIMPLE Project: IHF Engages Local Stakeholders to Strengthen Migrant Inclusion

On 31 January 2026, IHF organised a local outreach event within the framework of the SIMPLE project Work Package 3, bringing together 14 stakeholders from civil society and academia to discuss innovative approaches to migrant inclusion and employability. The workshop created a dynamic space for exchange, combining the presentation of the SIMPLE model with participants’ own experiences in community engagement and social innovation. Organisations working directly with refugees and vulnerable groups shared practical insights, including initiatives focused on entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment. The discussion confirmed strong interest in the SIMPLE approach, particularly its flexibility and potential to build on existing local practices. Participants also highlighted the need for stronger coordination, tools for scaling grassroots initiatives, and deeper cross-sector collaboration. This event represents an important step for the SIMPLE project in strengthening local ecosystems and advancing collaborative solutions for migrant integration. For more information, visit the SIMPLE project website: https://simpleinnovation.eu Contact: simple.euproject@gmail.com  Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Social Fund Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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2026-04-08
SIMPLE Partners Meet in Warsaw to Advance Piloting and Stakeholder Engagement

On 31 March 2026, the partners of the SIMPLE project gathered in Warsaw, Poland, for the third Transnational Project Meeting, hosted by Customized Training Solutions (CTS). The meeting represented a key milestone in the project’s implementation, providing an opportunity to review progress across the work packages and gain a deeper understanding of the ongoing pilot activities in Poland and Italy. A central focus of the meeting was the presentation of piloting progress and preliminary results by CTS (Poland) and HOPE Ukraine (Italy), the two partners directly involved in testing the SIMPLE model on the ground. The discussion highlighted how the project’s Theory of Change, developed under WP2, is now being translated into concrete actions, adapted to local contexts. In Poland, CTS is implementing an employment activation model inspired by the BSI_4Women initiative, focusing on supporting Ukrainian refugee women through tailored employability pathways, coaching, and skills development. Initial data shared during the meeting showed that participants are actively engaging in structured activities such as skills assessment, training sessions, and career planning, with many already developing business ideas. Examples of emerging ideas include services in care, education, and small entrepreneurship, demonstrating strong motivation toward economic independence. In Italy, HOPE Ukraine is adapting elements of the SIREE initiative, combining empowerment, entrepreneurship support, and stakeholder engagement to strengthen refugees’ autonomy and integration. Particular emphasis is placed on building local networks, engaging employers and community actors, and fostering inclusive narratives around refugee participation in the labour market. Beyond piloting, the consortium conducted a peer review of WP2 outcomes and advancement of WP3, which is now entering its final phase. Particular attention was given to the identification of stakeholders’ capacities and gaps, which will be essential for designing targeted capacity-building actions and ensuring project sustainability. By combining evidence-based design with real-world testing and continuous stakeholder engagement, the SIMPLE project continues to build a replicable and scalable model for refugee integration, capable of generating long-term impact across different contexts.   SIMPLE is co-funded by the European Union under the ESF+ programme and brings together partners from Italy, Poland, Spain, Belgium, Croatia, and Hungary. For more information, visit: https://simpleinnovation.eu Contact: simple.euproject@gmail.com 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.

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2026-03-17
The SIMPLE Project Highlights Social Innovation in Malaga

Málaga, Spain — March 17, 2026 — IT Solutions for All, as a partner of the European project SIMPLE, hosted an information session today in Malaga to present the project's progress and its impact on social innovation. The event focused on introducing the SIMPLE project framework to a group of 27 young participants currently enrolled in the ALMA mobility program. These participants, who are preparing for professional internships in Italy, Poland, and Portugal, represent the "Civil Society" pillar within the project’s Quadruple Helix model—a strategy that promotes cooperation between academia, industry, government, and citizens. During the session, the team from IT Solutions for All detailed the project’s mission to foster social innovation, learning and employability. The presentation covered: The core objectives of the SIMPLE project. The network of European partners and Spanish associates. The initial findings from Work Package 2 (WP2) regarding scalable social innovation strategies and initiatives. The activity was carried out in collaboration with the local organization Arrabal AID, an associate of the project, which facilitated the meeting with the participants during their pre-departure training phase. By sharing the project's goals and results, IT Solutions for All aims to highlight how social innovation models can improve the integration of vulnerable groups—including refugees—into the labor market, using these mobility experiences as a practical example of fostering employability and education within the European framework. For more information about the SIMPLE project, please visit the SIMPLE project website. About IT Solutions for All: IT Solutions for All is a non-profit organization based in Malaga dedicated to promoting social inclusion, digital skills, and innovative educational projects at the European and local levels. More information on our website.

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2026-01-20
RIF4UA – Roundtable Discussion and Workshop on the Labour Market Integration of Ukrainian Refugees

We participated in this conference, where researchers, civil society organisations and practitioners exchanged insights on the current situation of Ukrainian refugees in Hungary. On behalf of HETFA Research Institute, our colleague Renata Anna Jaksa took part in the event as an invited speaker and presented the SIMPLE project to the participants, outlining its approach, core logic and emerging lessons. The key findings strongly resonated with our own work. The research results and field-based experiences discussed during the roundtable confirmed that labour market integration cannot be addressed in isolation. Persistent challenges include: language barriers, housing insecurity and discrimination, non-recognition of qualifications, and significant psychosocial burdens, particularly affecting women, people with caregiving responsibilities and the 50+ age group. These factors reinforce each other, while insufficient coordination between support systems remains a structural issue. This is exactly where the SIMPLE project’s approach comes in. SIMPLE does not focus on single, isolated interventions. Instead, it works with: complex, modular employability and learning models, tailored mentoring and entrepreneurship-development elements, and low-threshold, flexible and transferable solutions that can be adapted to different national and local contexts. One of the strongest messages of the RIF4UA event was that what is needed is not more fragmented programmes, but better coordinated, evidence-based interventions. This fully aligns with the SIMPLE approach, which: builds on insights from more than 50 European good practices, applies a shared evaluation framework based on the Theory of Change, and integrates policy learning and transferability already at the pilot stage. Initiatives like RIF4UA reaffirm that sustainable labour market integration can only be achieved through partnerships, shared learning and systemic thinking. For SIMPLE, these exchanges are not only confirmations of direction, but also an important compass for future work.   Photo credit: Terre des Hommes, taken during the event.

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Partners

Collaboration is at the heart of the SIMPLE project. We work with a diverse range of stakeholders from academia, industry, government, and civil society to achieve our goals. Our partnerships are crucial for establishing strong networks, sharing resources, and maximizing the impact of our initiatives for Ukrainian refugees.

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.

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Legal description – Creative Commons licensing: The materials published on the SIMPLE project website are classified as Open Educational Resources' (OER) and can be freely (without permission of their creators): downloaded, used, reused, copied, adapted, and shared by users, with information about the source of their origin.

SIMPLE Project, All rights reserved.