What we do
Does It Work?
In this section
Mentoring is widely regarded as an effective way of supporting young people to explore options and cope with a transition.
...it has taught me a lot more things in a much more simple down to earth and friendly way.
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A wide range of mentoring initiatives report that mentoring can be a positive experience for both mentors and mentees. Mentees receive psychosocial support, develop skills and gain information, and knowledge. Mentors can share their own experiences, develop their own skills such as communication and see the impact of their support first hand.
Ementoring does not seek to replace face-to face mentoring and support but can provide added benefits and extend the wide-ranging benefits of mentoring to more people.
Ease of communication
Building a relationship with someone you don’t know can be daunting. Many young people, who are networked and web savvy, feel more at ease communicating online. Ementoring can overcome barriers to communication, such as stereotyping and geography to create successful, meaningful relationships.
Studies have shown that outcomes are greater when mentors and mentees interact regularly and over a sustained period of time. (MBF synthesis and Asgari & O'Neill, 2004; Bennett et al., 1998; Single et al., 2002).)
Geographical and time constraints can make this difficult, but ementoring enables people to get in touch when and where is most convenient for them. Plus, 77% of 16-24 year-olds use the internet every day (Office for National Statistics) and a report commissioned by Youthnet in 2009, showed that four out of five young people said they used the internet to find advice online.
Structured and supported
Research highlights the importance of training and coaching as crucial features for structured ementoring. (Boice and Boice 1998b) Training ensures mentors and mentees are equipped with the skills they will need to develop a meaningful mentoring relationship. Evaluation shows that regular contact motivates mentees and encourages engagement. This is where coaching activities can help. BrightsideUNIAID’s online curriculum gives users a set of learning tools, discussion topics and shared activities to add structure and focus to their relationships. Our resource library has regularly updated content and news, so the site is always fresh.
Virtual support, real outcomes
Ongoing monitoring of ementoring enables us to assess impact and to gain an insight into the needs of mentees and mentors, to shape future projects and ensure that the content we develop is always relevant. We aim to deliver projects that have a significant impact on target beneficiaries. Projects are monitored to ensure that mentors and mentees are in regular contact, and we conduct external evaluation on specific projects to evaluate impact.
To date BrightsideUNIAID has engaged over 18,000 young people in ementoring. We have worked with over 900 schools, 61 Higher Education Institutions, and 6,500 mentors to deliver secure ementoring to over 11,500 mentees across the UK.
Case study
Business and enterprise ementoring for gifted and talented youth
In May 2007, in partnership with the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY), BrightsideUNIAID launched Big Deal Blogs - a business enterprise pilot competition for disadvantaged, gifted and talented students. The Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) independently evaluated the overall impact of the programme, and found that participating students had developed a new range of skills:
- 92% of mentees had developed their organisational skills
- 95% had developed their planning skills
- 89% had developed their communication skills
- 97% had improved their financial planning
- 94% had improved their presentation skills
- 79% of participating students were more interested in undertaking a career in business
- 89% of students stated that their desire to attend a top university had increased
CEDAR described the project as a “successful intervention; high quality, efficiently managed with high quality resources.”
Case study
Science ementoring
In partnership with the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics and the Royal Academy of Engineering, BrightsideUNIAID’s science ementoring projects aim to support disadvantaged young people to continue their science-related studies and to aspire to a career in the sciences. Evaluations of these projects in 2008 demonstrated that:
- 74% of mentees were more interested in studying chemistry or the chemical sciences in the future after participating in a subject specific chemical science e-mentoring project;
- 96% of a sample of 79 mentees would recommend science ementoring to a sibling;
- 91% of mentees of a sample of 79 mentees rated the science ementoring website as Good or Excellent.
Read Quotes from our users and partners
If you’d like to find out more about our projects, please contact us.
For more research on mentoring, visit the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation Website