UB's Women in Leadership Pilot Program, 2007/2008 Evaluation ...

How to provide a formal Mentoring ProgramGood mentoring programs require a formal structure. Their purpose is to support and providesafeguards for the people engaged in mentoring. Effective models are available to inform such aprogram, such as that used at Victoria University. These procedures and protocols from VictoriaUniversity have been made available to the staff of the UB WIL program for adaptation and use atUB as appropriate.Such a program should have documented objectives, guidelines and plans for: Budget and resources for the program – covering a range of activities includingcoordination, workshop development, guideline development, communication, matching, induction, training of mentors, monitoring, trouble shooting and evaluation. Communication and marketing – focussing on generating a pool of mentors andencouraging a wider pool of applicants for the WIL program as mentees. Recruiting participants – to provide a broad range of skills and experience from committedmentors as well as a wide pool of mentee applicants. Matching pairs – using information gathered from mentees and pool of mentors. Education, training and information – including information for mentors and mentees. Activities and events - training of mentors and mentees and joint workshops. Trouble shooting and exit strategies, including prepared guidelines for issue management Monitoring and evaluation – of the mentoring partnership within the broader Universitycontext Continuity of the program – based on the evaluationUsually, a program co-ordinator or project team will have responsibility for implementing theprogram. This person or group will: Manage the logistics, administration and resources of the program. Serve as a central point of contact and communication. Select and match participants. Organise education, events and participant materials. Monitor and support participants . Evaluate and report results. 8Resourcing of such a program could be readily incorporated in the infrastructure supporting aWomen in Leadership program at the University of Ballarat with minimal and identifiable extraresourcing.8 Rolfe, A. (2006) How To Design and Run Your Own Mentoring Program26