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Information meetings in Norway at the end of the mentoring program

The municipality

Information meeting with representatives of the municipality (Grimstad kommune)

At June 19th we had an information meeting at Kvalifiseringstjenesten in Grimstad. The agenda was information about results of LEGME, and presentation of the “Guidelines for mentors and mentor programme coordinators”.

Beside teachers and leaders at our school center for  adults,  the leader of  the office for pedagogical guidance and development services (VUT) and the leader of the office for refugee services and settlement (Flyktningetjenesten i Grimstad) were present. We also invited local representatives from Norwegain Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV).

Good discussions on how to implementate the guidelines took place, and we also discussed further development of the work of mentoring in the municipality.

Meetings with NGOs
Earlier in June we visited two local organizations with the purpose of information about LEGEME and spreading of the guidelines.

At June 10th we had a group meeting with representatives of the local women group of “The Red Cross” (Grimstad Røde kors).  They are running weekly activity among refugee women, and how to use mentoring in this work was discussed in the meeting.

Red Cross

At  June 15th we met the leader of SON (Sammen om nøden). SON is an IOGT based project who runs a local day- and activity center for people with alcohol and drug addictions. A focus in the meeting was: How to use mentoring among the centers target group.

Sammen om Nøden

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Grimstad, July  2105

Gunnhild Bratland Nygård

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Guidelines for mentors and mentoring programme coordinators (EN and RO versions)

The final version of the publication Guidelines for mentors and mentoring programme coordinators is ready. We are really pleased to share it with you. Looking forward to reading your feedback.

Guidelines for mentors and mentoring programme coordinators – EN language

Ghid pentru mentori și coordonatori de programe de mentorat – RO language

The guidelines - cover

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Sharing lessons learnt – Final project meeting in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

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Mentoring programme developers and coordinators, mentor trainers and mentors came together in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on 21-22 May 2015 for the final project meeting. The full project team had not met for over a year, since the February 2014 meeting in Palermo, as smaller group conferences were organized in September 2014 in Grimstad and Vilnius, and in February 2015 in Schwerin and Zagreb.

The agenda of the Cluj-Napoca meeting was predominantly allocated to the eight teams sharing their project experiences: lessons learnt in the field of mentor recruitment, mentoring programme development, mentors’ training and coaching, mentors’ and mentees’ progress, and the plans for the future that the partner organizations and institutions have made.

We watched home-made videos including testimonials mostly from mentors – their reflections on what went well, what they learnt, and how being a mentor has changed them. Many said that they would like to be mentors in future programmes as well.

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The draft of the publication Guidelines for mentors and mentoring programme coordinators was carefully reviewed by the participants and improvements were suggested.

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The project management team including the coordinators of each partner organization had a meeting to discuss next steps in the project implementation and issues connected to the final reporting.

I learnt to listen to the child, to what he thinks and how he describes his situation, you know. – D., mentor, MDC

It was a beautiful experience, full of surprises. – G., mentor, CILSDGC

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A Grundtvig partners meeting was held in Zagreb

The penultimate meeting of the project partners’ „Learning to be good mentor“ was divided in two separate meetings in order to maintain successful and deeper discussion of mentoring programs. Both meetings were held on 5 and 6 February 2015. One meeting that was held in Zagreb, Croatia with the participation of partners from Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland and the Croatia and the other was in Schwerin, Germany with the participation of partners from Italy, Lithuania and Romania.

At the meetings were presented partners’ mentoring programs that included carried out activities, the feedback of participants, used tools of monitoring and evaluation. All partners gave feedback on the implemented programs on the basis of obtained information in order to review programs.
Also, the criteria was defined for the preparation of Mentoring program guidelines that was created in the next period of the project. The guidelines are a joint document of partners that will serve all interested stakeholders in the future implementation of mentoring programs in partner countries.
As part of the Zagreb meeting, partners had the opportunity to visit the Elementary school Matko Laginja whose children participated in Forum’s mentoring program. School pedagogue, Mrs. Jelena Bičanić intorduced the partners to the structure and operation of the school. Also, during the meeting the partners had the opportunity to meet and talk with mentors who participated in the program as well as with external expert Gordan Šimunković, which was also a trainer and supervisor of the mentoring program.
The final meeting of partners was held in May 2015 in Romania. The project was implemented within the Lifelong Learning Programme, the Grundtvig program.

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4th Partner Meeting in Germany

The LeGMe partner organizations from Germany (DKSB), Italy (CESIE), Lithuania (MDC) and Romania (CILSDGC) met in Schwerin (Germany) on February 5-6, 2015. This fourth partner meeting provided the opportunity to discuss the ongoing mentoring activities, and to meet the key-players: mentors, mentors’ coaches and mentoring programme coordinators from the four countries.
After a welcome and presentation of the agenda by Carsten Spies (the coordinator of the hosting organization), each partner had the opportunity to share their learning from the implementation of their respective mentor training/coaching programme: positive aspects, challenges, experiences related to the use of the monitoring & evaluation tools used, etc. Each presentation was followed by a question and answer session, and the presenters also received constructive feedback. After the coffee break (a very important informal moment for the participants to get to know each other better), we were divided in national groups and then in two groups (Romanian with Lithuanians, Italians with Germans) to discuss improvements we may want to make to our respective mentor training/ coaching programmes, and effective practices we may want to share from our mentor training. The outcomes of this session fed into the working meeting of the project coordinators and mentors’ coaches in the afternoon; here we agreed on the structure of the Guidebook for mentors and mentoring programme coordinators presented by Ariana Vacaretu, the general project coordinator from CILSDGC. Meanwhile, in three other training rooms, the mentors met in mixed country groups to share their mentoring experiences.
The second day was mostly dedicated to visits. First, we visited the State Parliament Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Schwerin Castle, where we met with a deputy of the Parliament to talk about volunteering at local level and to present the LeGMe project. Next, we crossed Lake Schwerin to get to an island where we met the people in charge of the “Jugendfirma INSEL DER CHANCEN”, a youth company working with people with limited opportunities. Once back on mainland, we gathered at the DKSB office to conclude the meeting with planning next steps and evaluation of the experience.
Many thanks to Carsten and team for this enriching experience.

See you all in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.