By Adeniyi Adeleye | Project Leader
Summary
The 2013-14 cycle of the Mentoring Challenge was supported by the donations of Idea Builders Supporters on the Global Giving fund-raising platformto the tune of N785, 518. 53 ($4, 959.08) in November, 2013. The programme cycle is scheduled to end in July 2014, with all round evaluations. We have commenced the programme cycle. This write up represent a preliminary report for the programme.
Overview of the Mentoring Challenge
Girls of secondary school age usually undergo changes - both physical and emotional. In many cases, these changes could leave them insecure and confused. With so much information hitting them at that critical stage of life, these girls stand the risk of losing time, material resources and even their life, while in search for answers to basic questions.
In 2011, Idea Builders conducted a survey among 1000 secondary school girls within the ages of 11-18 and classes JS3 - SS3 (JS - Junior Secondary, SS - Senior Secondary), and the results furnished us with the understanding that most of these girls lacked necessary information in the areas of teen pregnancy, relating with boys & men, molestation & rape, peer pressure, career planning, relating parents, time management and financial intelligence among other things.
More so, these girls are less willing to speak with their traditional instructors - teachers and parents. They feel more confident to confer with their peers concerning most of the circumstances they go through. And in a situation where their peers are not knowledgeable about such issues, which is generally the case, then they are not in a good place. If this girls grow into adulthood this way, a lot of resources might be irredeemably lost as a result of their ignorance. And the healthy self-concept necessary for a process through life may be either absent or deficient.
Nigeria and indeed the world is bracing up for more leadership capacity for women. More women are filling political positions and also influencing policy change at all social levels. Currently, there are more women in the Federal Executive Council of Nigeria than there had ever been since the birth of the nation and things are moving forward for women generally. Nonetheless, there still exist lack of self-confidence, self-sufficiency and self-discovery among many young women.
According to a report by the ILM (Institute of Leadership & Management) - published in February 2011 - female managers have lower career confidence. Men are more confident across all age groups, with 70% of men having high or quite high levels of self-confidence, compared to 50% of women. Half of women managers admit to feelings of self-doubt, but only 31% of men do. They also found that women with low confidence have lower expectations of reaching a leadership and management role and are actually less likely to achieve their career ambitions.
The feeling of inadequacy, the ‘imaginary’ glass ceiling and other related factors are capable of hindering women from moving efficiently towards position of leadership on the long run.
The Mentoring Challenge is an off-shoot of the Idea Builders’ Women Mentoring Women™ Partnership Programme and serves both as a scale-up and logical balance to inspire young women to reach out and become influential, develop experiential leadership skills and self-confidence. In the mentoring challenge, young women mentor their peers and secondary school girls.
The programme serves as a pay-it-forward platform for our growing number of annual Mentor Walk mentees. Women in early positions of responsibility are given the opportunity to sign up and become accredited into this self-directed learning process for free. After orientation, each ‘Contender’ is assigned a number of tasks, some of which are geared towards dealing with issues concerning girls in public secondary schools.
The Mentoring Challenge is hinged on the simple but powerful premise that people learn best by doing! It gives young women responsibility for action and an active platform and opportunity to think through their wider role in society.The Challenge experience sticks because the learning is relevant and the process is highly engaging. The multiplier effect is twice as impactful as opposed to other approaches of training or orientation. Learning and retention significantly increases because the ‘challenger’ is actively engaged in the process.
Programme Development & Review
The Mentoring Challenge model underwent a series of modification to arrive at the one we have today. The first model was patterned as a seamless network mentoring programme where after successive cycle, contenders invite three new recruits to take their place, while they (the contenders) move up one notch. With this model, it was postulated that the Mentoring Challenge would reach thousands of secondary school girls within 3 years.
As lofty as this model was, it had to give way to a more realistic model which involved just one contender starting and ending the cycle, without inviting new recruits. This model gives room for easier monitoring and evaluation processes. It also enhances a situation where contenders are self-motivated to execute their assigned tasks. Besides, our capacity, at the moment, may not be adequate to manage the programme with hundreds of contenders and thousands of secondary school girls.
As it stands today, the milestones of the Mentoring Challenge include the following:
Recruitment
A call for expression of interest was made on social media outlets, like Facebook and Twitter, and Idea Builders Initiative’s corporate website. We sent emails to contacts in our database, inviting young women to apply. We also asked women organizations to nominate young women within their networks.
About 100 applications were received, out of which 20 selected. The recruitment took place for 5 non-consecutive days within one month and the transport fares for the applicants were subsidized on these days.
Orientation Series
The orientation series took place for 3 days and Contenders were helped to develop skills needed to execute their tasks effectively. The orientation included sessions such as project management, journaling, development planning, conflict management, personality typing, qualities and responsibilities, etc.
They were also trained in topics including teen pregnancy, relating with boys & men, molestation & rape, peer pressure, career planning, relating parents, time management and financial intelligence, among other things. They received instruction on the best way to garner the interest and trust of the students and how best to relate with them and the officials of the school authority. In the orientation series, there were case studies, simulations and hands-on training exercises. Trainers were brought in to teach different topics.
Afterwards, they were supplied with the Mentoring Challenge Handbook, Toolkits, T-shirts and other materials needed for the execution of their tasks.
Accreditation
From last year, Idea Builders Initiative got the cooperation of the Lagos State Ministry of Education to execute the Mentoring Challenge in secondary schools all over Lagos State. Their letter of approval was also forwarded to the different education districts in which our contenders would be doing their activities. Additionally, a copy of the letter was given to each of our contenders to serve as an introduction to the schools. About two of the six education districts requested for the renewal of the approval, which we are currently working on. About 10 of the 20 Contenders have started their work in earnest.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The Mentoring Challenge is being monitored and evaluated by face-to-face contact, regular phone calls and email communication between project staff and the contenders. We have also had to attend programmes and events in the schools, on the invitation of the contenders. Contenders have also sent picture and video evidence of their activities in the schools. At the end of the programme cycle, we would do a final grading of the contenders by conducting an assessment survey on the students they have worked with throughout the cycle.
Conclusion
We believe the Mentoring Challenge is bridging a significant gap in helping young women develop leadership skills. It is helping them to focus on the weightier matters of life, which include passing on their experience to the next generation. The secondary school girls in this programme have also found a friend in our contenders,in whom they could trust and confide, and with whom they could communicate.
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