Article contributed by Fiona Powell.
As you create your resolutions for 2009, why not consider making a difference to a young woman’s life through mentoring as one of your goals? For women in Auckland and the Far North, there is an amazing opportunity to mentor a young woman through the YWCA Future Leader’s Programme.
The YWCA Future Leaders Programme provides mentoring, skills development and practical assistance to young women who show leadership potential. Young women enter the programme in Year 10 and remain on it for up to five years.
Fifity students have so far graduated from the six year old programme and currently there are 12 schools and approx 112 students (and mentors) involved with the programme.
YWCA Future Leaders are currently looking for more mentors to join the programme. If you’re female, have an interest in helping young women and have some time available, this is a great opportunity to provide support and offer assistance and guidance at a crucial stage in a young person’s life.
We asked Kerry-Ann Stanton, who recently joined the YWCA as a Future Leaders programme coordinator about the programme:
What have been some of the success stories from the programme?
There have been many! One of the students at Kelston Girls High School, Nikisha Sutherland, has really used the mentoring support to set and achieve goals. She has steadily improved academically and won a Portage Trust Academic Scholarship in 2008. She also went on the Spirit of Adventure in 2008. She has won a place training in her chosen industry of fashion design in 2009. She puts this down in part to her involvement on the Future Leaders Programme.
The Future Leaders programme has a number of components of which the mentoring relationship is just one part. The students also attend leadership and skills development workshops and camps throughout their years on the programme. Some of these they initiate and design themselves. The students are also expected to do community service and to be taking leadership opportunities in their own schools and communities.
What is the biggest strength of the programme?
All the evaluations and anecdotal feedback point to a marked increase in confidence and motivation for the students, an ability to make decisions and good choices for themselves and to have a good sense of their future. We are less clear on the long term impact of leadership by women in our society.
What has been the most rewarding experience for you as a programme coordinator to date?
Just the sheer pleasure that the women and students take from being in the mentoring relationship, the thrill of successes, the developing of resilience through failure and disappointment, and to hear the stories of growth through learning and the ups and downs of a relationship over time; for both the students and their mentors. This is very much a reciprocal relationship.
For me personally I have already had some great laughs talking with the students and it is an outright privilege meeting many of the women putting themselves forward as mentors.
What are the key attributes that make a person suitable as a mentor on the programme?
An interest in young women, the ability to listen, to be non-judgemental and plus of course having enough time.
What is the biggest challenge for mentors?
There are a range of challenges for the mentors one of which is time. We ask that the mentors meet with their students once a month and stay in contact by text, phone or email in between. Other challenges include managing their own time and disciplining themselves to stay in contact even if they are unsure in the relationship with students who don’t return calls or keep agreements etc. My suggestion include: always stay in touch – for example, texts allow a quick ‘just thinking of you’ that can be followed up on later; diary in an Outlook calendar your core commitments (with a reminder flag) and to always deal with issues and concerns as they arise. One of the main roles of the three future leaders programme coordinators is to work with the mentoring pairs and to assist them as they work together.
If someone is interested or wants to know more about becoming a mentor on the programme, what should they do?
Contact us by phone or email, or through the website – http://www.akywca.org.nz/. I then meet individually with any interested woman and give her information on the programme, answer her questions and make an initial assessment on her suitability for the programme.
When is the next training and intake of mentors?
The next training will be SATURDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2009. We are recruiting continually and there will be other training dates during the year.
And for more information…
The website http://www.akywca.org.nz/ is a good place to visit. There are photo galleries which tell lots of stories and really show the diversity of students, mentors and the activities they get up to.
