Starting the project “Learning to be a good mentor”: Kick Off Meeting in Zug, Switzerland

From the 31^st of October to the 3^rd of November 2013, the Kick Off meeting of “LeGMe – Learning to be a good mentor” (Lifelong Learning Programme – Grundtvig Learning Partnership) took place in Zug, Switzerland, with the participation of 8 European partners: Consortiul International LSDGC   (Romania, Coordinator), Verein MUNTERwegs (Switzerland), Deutscher Kinderschutzbund Landesverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern e.V. (Germany), CESIE (Italy), ŠIUOLAIKINIŲ DIDAKTIKŲ CENTRAS (Lithuania), Grimstad kommune/Kvalifiseringstjenesten (Norway), Združenie Orava pre demokraciu vo vzdelávaní (Slovakia) and Forum za slobodu odgoja (Croatia).

The project – that will be completed in 2015 – focuses on the figure of mentor and all mentoring programmes in the various contexts in which this figure works (e.g.: in adults education, education for children and adolescents). The main goal is to prepare the pedagogical and human resources for partners in order to establish effective mentoring programmes to support the communities of the whole partnership. Furthermore, the skills of the aspiring mentors and their coaches will be enhanced, as well as sharing good practices of the mentoring experiences of all organizations involved in the project. Finally, adults – like pensioners, unemployed people, university students, migrants – are supposed to be involved and they will find out the importance of their “guide” role for other people, valorizing themselves and their capacities, thus giving an important contribution to the society where they live

The whole partnership will analyse the mentoring programmes existing in every national context, developing afterwards a common framework and guide lines for programmes addressed to training and enhancement of mentors and their trainers, merging together in a future online booklet at the end of the project. Moreover, every organization will organize its mentoring programme according to its target needs.

During the meeting, partners discussed about all aspects of the project in the next 2 years, defining the details of this important common work. Next appointment will be in Palermo, on the 6^th  and 7^th   of February  2014, in which the partners will compare the national analyses of mentoring programmes in order to find the common features through which they will be able to establish the future programmes to “learn to be a good mentor”.

The website of the project will be online soon. In the meantime, you can follow us on Facebook.

For further information, contact alberto.biondo@cesie.org

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.