Reinforced Mentorship – Zooming in on Creating Inclusive Environments in European Solidarity Corps Projects

Aims of the tool

The Reinforced Mentorship booklet aims at
- exploring good practices on inclusion and reinforced mentorship in ESC projects,
- showing mentoring practitioners and organisations ways to create inclusive environment, and
- clarifying how to implement reinforced mentorship.

Description of the tool

Creating inclusive volunteering projects for young people with fewer opportunities means implementing additional support measures. Mentoring – one of the main support measures of the ESC Programme – contributes both to the value of the volunteering project and to the well-being of the volunteer. However, mentoring alone is often not enough to adequately support volunteers with diverse abilities.

Reinforced Mentorship is an intensified mentoring process designed to provide stronger and more frequent guidance and support for young people with fewer opportunities. It aims to support volunteers in gaining as much autonomy as possible, while also contributing to the successful implementation of the project.

This booklet brings together insights and practical recommendations based on an in-depth exploration of reinforced mentoring practices during a series of MeetUPs within the Mentoring under Construction Community. Experienced organisations working with young volunteers with diverse abilities brought greater clarity and practical knowledge about what works in practice.

The booklet outlines the concept of reinforced mentorship and presents the results of a survey summarising key experiences with reinforced mentorship in the field. The main part provides a deep dive into good practice examples of reinforced mentorship. It explores the needs and barriers for five different groups – young people with reduced mobility, hearing or visual impairments, neurodiverse and LGBTQ+ youth – and offers recommendations for creating inclusive environments and reinforced mentoring practices. The last chapter guides readers through the practical steps that need to be considered when implementing reinforced mentorship.

*******

The content of this Reinforced Mentorship Booklet has been developed in the frame of the NET working activities "Mentoring under Construction". Mentoring under Construction is an initiative and community of mentoring practitioners working on high-quality mentoring for European Solidarity Corps volunteers supported by the Romanian National Agency for European Solidarity Corps, the Youth and European Solidarity Corps National Agencies of France, Austrian National Agency, SALTO European Solidarity Corps Resource Centre and SALTO EuroMed.

*******

The Mentoring under Construction Community
Mentoring under Construction (MuC) is a community of practitioners who share a passion for mentoring/coaching. The MuC Community is open for everyone who is interested in raising the quality in mentoring and coaching within European Solidarity Corps programme (and beyond) including mentors, project managers/organisers, coordinators of volunteers, facilitators of learning, authors and trainers, and members of National Agencies and SALTO Resource Centres.

Mentoring under Construction was founded in 2019 by SALTO European Solidarity Corps in cooperation with the Romanian National Agency. It is supported by the Youth and European Solidarity Corps National Agencies of France and SALTO EuroMed.