Mentor Up

Background The rationale of the project offers a chance for raising the efficiency of the mentorship service offered in the context of ESC type projects among the partner organizations involved. The main motivation came from having a diverse international consortium, coming from different branches, but united in the need for quality mentoring services and activities. The consortium consisted of both, more experienced organizations who have the know-how, and less experienced organizations who needed the support and were very well connected with the target group. The idea of the project was based on the following needs identified by the promoting organization: - the lack of opportunities in terms of training/formation of young people interested to become mentors for ESC volunteers - the lack of a general structure offers of training and formation in the field of mentorship for EVS/ESC volunteers - only basic established aspects connected with the structure of training/evaluation/certification of interested people that want to become mentors in ESC projects - lack of a general profile of a mentor within the ESC project and lack of at least basic standards in the work of a mentor within an ESC project - not any structured format containing methods and instruments, resources available for young people interested to act as mentors within an ESC project - the need to raise awareness on the change of the program, EVS to ESC. Objectives Thus, the promoting organization had conducted a research based on which established together with the partner organizations involved that mostly young people that are assigned as mentors within EVS projects are unskilled persons in terms of connected items such as Erasmus+ program, EVS/ESC as programmes and the context of the development of an EVS volunteer within such project and are persons who more or less are close to the hosting organizations in charge. Also, other problems that appeared were the: lack of resources for the development of interested young people that wish to be involved as mentors and there were some limitations in terms of information for the preparation of future mentors within ESC projects. Based on the needs identified, the objectives have been: - to raise awareness regarding the necessity of settling up a more general understanding of mentorship service in the context of ESC projects, the role and responsibilities of mentors - to create training material for mentors, based on their needs - to create a free online platform for distance learning - to foster cooperation at European level and among the partners involved in the project and create space for further initiatives Implementation The project created 4 main outcomes: IO1 – Mentor Up Training Need Analysis – discovering the gaps in the skills of the target group, IO2 - Mentor Up – Manual – developed specific training content and methodology, based on the previous research, C1 – Training course – developing mentoring skills in participants, feedback and evaluation, IO3 - Mentor Up - Online learning platform – digital training course available to all countries. Achievements The results produced during the lifetime of the project and that are expected to remain after its termination are related to both the tangible materials and content and the intangible ones. As far as it concerns the tangible results, we are talking about the specific intellectual outputs and the learning mobility of the youth workers. These affected directly the participants involved, but also the indirect beneficiaries of the content material created and made available and distributed among stakeholders and youth workers. The intangible results concerned different actors involved in the implementation of this project as well as those acting only as participants, contributors or simple users of the results. The partners involved developed new abilities especially in terms of international cooperation and development for cooperation by treating a subject common and of interest for all of them and by bringing solutions and new ways of proceedings for a better understanding of the sector of the project. Partners have better prepared trainer staff and youth workers. Secondly, there is a community of formed young people who increased their competences and abilities in the fields of youth work and specifically the mentorship.