Three years ago, the NatAlli ERASMUS+ project (NatAlli website) began with an urgent belief: Ukrainian women displaced by war must have opportunities to protect their professional identity, use their knowledge and experience, and play an active role in rebuilding their lives, communities and country.
Today, that belief is stronger than ever. The war has escalated, Ukrainian women continue to face displacement, family separation, disrupted careers and financial insecurity, and the need for meaningful support has become even greater.
The sunflower in the NatAlli logo speaks to this same purpose. Rooted in Ukraine, it represents resilience, hope and renewal, and reminds us why the work must continue.
It is against this background that the NatAlli partners received the project’s final evaluation from the German National Agency. We are delighted that NatAlli achieved a score of 83 out of 100, with the reviewers describing it as highly relevant and recognising the substantial and valuable results created by the partnership.
The evaluation praises the strength of the project management, led with great care and commitment by FH Münster. Take a bow, FH Münster! It also recognises the close collaboration between partners and the way the research, mentoring programme, toolkit, training, platform and sustainability work came together. The reviewers acknowledge how the partnership responded to the extraordinary challenges caused by the continuing war in Ukraine.
That recognition matters to us. NatAlli was created to support highly educated Ukrainian women whose careers, businesses, studies and family lives had been disrupted by war and displacement. The project helped women reconnect with their professional identity, develop entrepreneurial and leadership skills, build new networks and contribute to economic and social regeneration.
As the funded phase closes, the challenge is now even greater. Ukrainian women continue to build lives in new countries while supporting children and relatives, maintaining connections with Ukraine and trying to protect the professional experience and ambitions they worked so hard to develop. Many are living with profound uncertainty while trying to make decisions about work, education, business and family life.
This reality gives the NatAlli results a continuing purpose. The resources created through the project were designed for practical use, and partners are committed to ensuring that they reach the women, mentors and organisations that need them.
The NatAlli research provides valuable insight into the experiences, needs and ambitions of highly educated Ukrainian women. The NatAlli Mentoring Programme and Toolkit offer practical activities for mentors and mentees covering mentoring relationships, entrepreneurship, leadership, confidence, resilience, cultural adaptation and professional development.
The Sustainability Blueprint helps universities, community organisations, entrepreneurship hubs and support services use and adapt the NatAlli approach. These open access resources will continue to support mentoring programmes, training activities and individual women long after the formal funding period.
The evaluation confirms that NatAlli substantially exceeded several of its original targets. Downloads, website reach, resources developed and dissemination activities all performed strongly. This shows that people are searching for this support and that the project has created something useful and relevant.
We also know where our attention is needed next. Uptake of the NatAlli Community Platform was below the original target. Looking back, we recognise that our original target was too high. The partners are committed to keeping the platform alive, bringing more women and mentors into the community and improving its accessibility and reach. The NatAlli Community Platform will continue as a free space for Ukrainian women, mentors and allies to connect, learn and share their experience. Please get involved.
The reviewers also encouraged the partnership to strengthen recognition of the learning achieved through NatAlli. This opens possibilities for certificates, microcredentials and connections with institutional learning frameworks, helping women and mentors demonstrate the knowledge and skills they develop.
For the NatAlli partners, in many ways this project only begins now.
The NatAlli website will remain online for the coming years, keeping the research, mentoring resources, toolkit and Sustainability Blueprint freely available.
Partners will use the resources within their own organisations, networks, teaching, mentoring and future projects. We will continue to introduce NatAlli to universities, women’s organisations, entrepreneurship programmes, community services and others working directly with Ukrainian women. Every organisation that adopts a tool, every mentor who uses the programme and every woman who finds useful support will help carry the work forward.
The final score of 83 is something the whole partnership can be proud of. It reflects an enormous collective effort, including the contribution of every woman, mentor, stakeholder and partner who shared their knowledge, experience, time and trust.
We are delighted with the final result. We are also acutely aware that the circumstances which inspired NatAlli continue. Our responsibility now is to put the research, resources, platform and relationships created through the project to work.
While the funding phase has concluded. NatAlli’s purpose and commitment continue.
