MentorPower

Most young people grow up without having a formal mentor and this role is fulfilled informally through family members, a family friend, a teacher or a neighbour. Some young people, especially those with fewer opportunities especially those who are homeless or without the support of a family, grow up without reaping the benefits of mentoring which often has a significant bearing on one’s development particularly while settling down. Mentoring is essentially a form of interaction between youth workers and young people aimed at guiding same on the path to adulthood. Through mentoring, young people know that there is someone who cares about them, assures them they are not alone in dealing with day-to-day challenges, and makes them feel like they matter. This project supported the capacity building of youth workers by developing and sharing effective methods in reaching out to marginalised young people. Mentoring young people with fewer opportunities was explored as a valuable human resource asset. The achieved objectives of the project were : • To issue a handbook/manual about mentoring young people with fewer opportunities especially those who are homeless or those without the support of a family and to develop a training programme for youth workers; • To train up to 4 youth workers from every partner in the project on how to incorporate mentoring in their work and to promote mentoring as part of their work with young people; • To increase the capacity and competence of these youth workers to seek sustainability in their work through mentoring programmes; • To disseminate and share a handbook on mentoring youth with fewer opportunities among youth workers and youth organisations.