Mentoring For Success

A mentor is a woman role model from the community. A ‘role model’ is someone whom girls can admire and look up to because she leads a good life. A mentor encourages girls to stay in school and have aspirations for themselves beyond school. A mentor spends time with girls individually or in a group to make sure that they do well in school, are healthy and happy, and are helpful to their families and communities.

A mentor can be almost anyone—mother, young woman, religious leader, community leader, or professional woman in any field. A mentor may have been to a university or may only have primary schooling. A mentor has a real concern for the young women in the community. She builds trust. She speaks wisely and listens closely. She plans mentoring sessions and activities. A mentor is willing to do what she can to help girls succeed.

Mentoring gives girls the chance to spend time with a trusted adult who accepts them for who they are. A mentor praises girls when they do well in their studies. A mentor inspires girls to do their best and helps them to succeed. Girls who know about mentoring may be eager to have a mentor themselves. They may have questions about issues that they would not be able to ask anyone else, such as health, sex, boyfriends, school, work, and future goals and aspirations.

By Academy for Educational Development