Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1535025
FRANK Salt Real Estate is proud to sup- port YMCA Malta through a generous contribution as part of the organisation's impactful 365 Campaign — a nationwide initiative aimed at addressing homeless- ness and empowering vulnerable indi- viduals through sustainable community support. The contribution will directly aid YM- CA's upcoming HP Hub Project, which is set to launch at the end of May. This new initiative is designed to equip service users with practical skills and digital training to improve their chances of reintegration and employment. Through a strategic partner- ship with YMCA Europe and HP Life, 50 laptops have already been secured, and the space is currently being set up for its first intake of participants. "This project is about more than just ac- cess to technology — it's about creating a path forward," said Anthony Camilleri, CEO of YMCA Malta. "Every contribu- tion, including the continued support from Frank Salt Real Estate, fuels our mis- sion and helps us restore dignity and hope to those who need it most." Since its foundation in 1976, YMCA Mal- ta has remained a vital pillar of support for those facing homelessness and hardship, offering shelter, care, and opportunity to people from all walks of life — without discrimination of any kind. Their work continues to focus not only on providing emergency aid but on empowering indi- viduals through educational programs and holistic development. Frank Salt Real Estate Director Grahame Salt added: "We are honoured to contrib- ute to this meaningful cause. YMCA Mal- ta is doing vital work, and we're proud to support initiatives that make a lasting dif- ference in people's lives." Members of the public wishing to contribute further to this good cause can send a donation via: Mo- bile Pay: 79550065 or Bank/Revolut: M24VALL22013000000040021938069 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 MAY 2025 7 COMMERCIAL Frank Salt Real Estate backs YMCA Malta's 365 campaign with support for life-changing community project Mind the GAP! Joint actions of workers' organisations for bridging the gender pay gap THE project "Mind the GAP! Joint actions of workers' organizations for bridging the gender pay gap" is a part- nership of 11 organizations from 10 dif- ferent countries (Bulgaria, Italy, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Malta, Roma- nia, Serbia, Slovakia, Poland, Belgium). The project beneficiary is the General Workers Union from Malta and this grant is funded by the European Union. This very important project tackles the questions about the gender pay gap across Europe, in both EU members and candidate countries. Mind the GAP is focused on several main objectives like increasing the cooperation of par- ticipating countries in monitoring the EU's pay transparency directive trans- position, strengthening capabilities to use the collective bargaining by workers organizations to bridge the gender pay gap by means of online and offline train- ings, enhancing worker's organizations contribution to EU policy making (rec- ommendations based on the works of monitoring teams, experts and workers organizations' representatives), having more effective implementation of Pay Transparency Directive in the partici- pating EU countries as well as improved understanding of the Pay Transparency Directive in Candidate Countries, and finally enhancing the cooperation of workers organizations for the develop- ment of next steps and recommenda- tions to reduce gender pay gap. The enforcement of labor laws and gender-role stereotypes remain signif- icant obstacles in addressing gender disparities in most of the countries. To improve compliance, stronger enforce- ment mechanisms and awareness cam- paigns are needed. Low female work- force participation and occupational segregation persist; for that reason, policies promoting paternity leave and gender-neutral job classifications are also recommended. Very often patriar- chal norms hinder progress, and wom- en are underrepresented in high-paying roles, and gender-sensitive policies and improved access to leadership positions are crucial in addressing these issues. Cultural shifts towards inclusive lead- ership and equitable workplace policies are also needed. Private sector pay gaps are a bigger problem due to weak wage transparency, mandatory wage report- ing, and union engagement, together with legal frameworks and employer ac- countability mechanisms that are nec- essary. A key component of this effort is the EU Pay Transparency Directive from 2023, which requires pay trans- parency in all member states in order to alleviate wage disparities. Although this directive is a big step in the right direction, it will take a lot of institution- al support to be implemented effective- ly. Small and medium-sized businesses can find it difficult to meet these new regulations, which emphasizes the ne- cessity of government support to ease implementation.