The Dissemination Manual for the National Peer Mentoring Pilot was published by MBF for the benefit of mainstream secondary schools in line with the Every Child Matters agenda. It breaks down a collection of case studies gathered from the national pilot programme for peer mentoring in schools and highlights the best practice and learning found there. The focus is on the value of peer mentoring in an educational environment and for young people more generally. However, the discussion does generate a list of elements of a successful programme that could be applied to building access to volunteering with other groups in our communities.

The guide offers an overview of what might be considered the basic ingredients of a successful peer mentoring programme:

Clear senior management support from the outset to promote a high profile for the scheme and the appointment of committed and trained co-ordinators.

Clarity about the aim of the scheme and what the school expects to see as benefits and improvements

A creative approach to publicising and marketing the programme to all relevant pupils

The selection of reliable volunteers as peer mentors who have received relevant training for their specific roles, with supervision and support in place to respond to any issues affecting individual relationships.

A structured process of monitoring and evaluation to assess the impact of the scheme and identify areas for attention and improvement.

MBF National Peer Mentoring Pilot Diss Report

Much of the language is understandably tailored for a professional educational context and mentality which is fitting in light of the aims of the pilot so below we offer, in the same order, a rewording of each point accompanied by our own take on why it is important.

Ensure that your organisation is committed to the project.
To be brief, mentoring initiatives can be a lot of work. Just the process of identifying and matching prospective mentors & mentees can be quite time consuming. Add to this the need for new projects to ensure that they have thought through all the appropriate policies, procedures and risk assessments and the whole thing can seem a daunting task. Some organisations will move through these challenges without a second thought but should some unforeseen challenge arise or progress just seem a bit slower than expected then you may need to be able fall back on your project or organisation’s determination to see things through. This is more likely to happen if you can ensure early in the project that you have buy-in from above and access to experience on the ground from an early stage.

Know why you are doing this
In its most basic form volunteering is essentially a simple process – a person or group works, without pay, for the benefit of another person, group or cause. As concepts mentoring and supported volunteering can cause confusion as to who is the primary benefactor and how should resources best be placed to make this possible. This can muddy the waters of the clearest planning efforts. If your goal is move mentees from one experience to another then be up front about it; if the goal is to empower someone to become a mentor then don’t let the mentee’s journey – though certainly important in its own right – distract you from pursuing that end. Everyone in the chain needs to clearly understand their role and why it’s important.

Recruit effectively
Be clear about expectations – yours and theirs. If during the planning stage there are moments when members within you team get a bit confused about who is being supported or who is expected to gain which benefit or what the goal of this or that role is then imagine how the process, no matter how polished in the end, might look to a potential recruit from the outside. Have clear role descriptions in place and know how to articulate these in an appropriate form for your intended audience so they may understand their obligations and possible rewards as best they can.

Mentoring relationships often involve individuals from similar backgrounds even when the word peer is not applied. Remember that you will not be selecting mentors and mentees by the same criteria or there would be little purpose to the exercise – be aware of the differences no matter how subtle and how these may require you to promote the project differently to mentors than mentees. Think about how the language, tone, location, communication tools used may differ when speaking to candidates for each role.

Select/Create/Empower Good Volunteer Mentors
Again, provide concise & accessible volunteer role descriptions for your mentors making it clear what support they can expect to receive and what benefits they are likely to experience. Motivation is always an important driver behind a successful volunteer and a mentor is no exception. Encourage them articulate from the outset why they are seeking such a role and record their reasons. This may inform conversations later on should a mentor lose their way or if experience should not live up to expectations.

Be aware that your project will rely on your mentors’ ability to perform so make sure that they have the tools and understanding to get you there. Mentoring can come in an infinite number of flavours but there are basic building blocks common to all good mentor training programmes (this list is by no means exhaustive):

• Share your goals – make sure everyone understands what the project is trying to achiever overall and what part mentors are expected to play in the journey.
• Understand boundaries – mentoring can grow to be a personal relationship and mentors should be given the tools & confidence to know how to recognise potential problems and act accordingly
• Able to respond – your mentees will likely have a wider set of needs than any one mentor can meet; be sure to help your mentors to develop the ability to signpost appropriate resources when they don’t have the answer at hand.
• Be social – we are by nature social animals but even the most competent of us can improve our skills. Remind mentors that they have succeeded in ways that the mentee has yet to achieve and that even the most polite mentor may seem intimidating to a mentee. Ensure that mentors understand how to watch for and deliver effective verbal and physical cues in a way that makes them.

Monitor & Evaluate
The mentor/mentee relationship is a complex process and not every worthwhile quality of it can be easily captured if measured at all – but measure you must. We will expand on this elsewhere but here are a few quick ideas of hooks to hang your measures on:

• How many mentees managed to reach your desired destination(s)? How many fell off along the way and where?
• Did you reach recruitment target numbers for both mentors & mentees
• Empowered Mentees – use a questionnaire or interview to benchmark where they are starting their journey from and then talk to them again when they leave programme to assess how far they’ve come. If possible poll them again six months or a year later after they have had some time to reflect on their experience.
• Empowered Mentors – ask them about their confidence in their ability to perform the task on both entry and exit of the programme (and as often times in between as is reasonable). Also invite them to make suggestions on how to improve the support/training they receive.
• Environmental Signs – are there signs that those gaining benefit from the programme are changing their behaviour or otherwise reaching the goals hoped for?

In Summary
Please bear in mind that the advice directly above is ours – not MBF. Hopefully our discussion here has kindled your interests and you will make time to read the report yourself to find out what they have to share – you can find it here. In the meantime, we’d love to hear any comments you may have on the topic so please feel free to comment below.