Berlin Mentoring Network

Berlin mentoring agencies have joined forces in a network to jointly secure the quality and future of sponsorship programmes.

With a one-to-one mentoring and family mentoring, the various players communicate their personal commitment to promoting children and young people in Berlin and to relieving the burden on families. An adult accompanies, supports and promotes an individual child or adolescent on a regular and long-term basis. Full-time, professional coordinators ensure good preparation, selection of suitable tandem partners and secure mentoring. Child protection is the highest priority.

Members of the network advocate that

• every child is given the opportunity to receive support from a mentor
• access to high quality programmes for all those willing to engage is provided
• mentoring programmes are sustainably financed.

With our network, we are committed to making mentoring a natural part of child-friendly Berlin – for more education and solidarity.
Currently (2017) 36 associations and sponsors have joined the network. The association is managed by a three-member board of directors. The content work is implemented in various working groups (child protection, quality, work with refugees, workshop discussions). At the moment we work on a purely honorary basis.

The network is committed to the Transparency International Germany and publishes the origin and use of all its resources. Visit our website at

www.kipa-berlin.de/unterstützen/transparente-zivilgesellschaft/

The European Mentoring Summit in Berlin is the third bi-annual summit since the first mentoring conference in Heerenveen/Netherlands in 2014 and the launching of the “European Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring (ECEB-Mentoring)” during the European Mentoring Summit Leeuwarden/Netherlands in March 2016. Since then, the ECEB-Mentoring has been working with a small staff and many members on realizing the agenda that was decided upon in 2016:

• Optimize high quality mentoring;
• Create a hub to connect for practitioners, innovators and researchers to collaborate;
• Function as a gravitation point for improving quality and positioning mentoring and networking;

• Develop a strong network of mentoring programmes and research institutions;
• Create a source where we can find validated knowledge and an overview of mentoring programmes in Europe;

• Foster caring relationships through research based quality;
• Promote research and make stories of mentoring more powerful in Europe;
• Facilitate knowledge sharing to improve mentoring practices across the lifespan;
• Connect the effects and impact of mentoring to the EU 2020 goals.
• Conduct rigorous research on mentoring programmes and practices, in order to improve our understanding of when, why, and for whom mentoring does (not) work;

• Improve the translation of evidence into programme, practice, and policy;
• Use multidisciplinary and multilevel research approach.

The Center is dedicated to appraising and using the evidence we have, and to conducting rigorous and practice-oriented research on mentoring programmes and practices. In doing so, we seek to advance the production, dissemination, and uptake of evidence-based practices in ways that improve the effectiveness of practice and, ultimately, create stronger, more enduring mentoring relationships. The ECEB-Mentoring has also developed a strong collaborative relationship with the “MENTOR / UMB Center for Evidence Based Mentoring” based at the University of Massachusetts.

The bi-annual summit is the core activity to build the community of practitioners and researchers and to establish a sense of joint forces as this network can only flourish through the support and active contribution of people from different countries.

kein Abseits! e.V. is a German non-profit organisation (NPO) committed to supporting children facing adversity and enabling integrative encounters between people from different backgrounds. In close partnership with schools, universities and refugee shelters, kein Abseits! has been developing educational and integrative projects since 2011. The main goal of the organisation is to contribute to educational equality and a peaceful coexistence in Berlin.
Both local and refugee children are benefitting from the approach of kein Abseits! which combines experiential education with physical activities, one-to-one mentoring as well as vocational education. While the projects are mainly targeted at children aged 7 to 13, the community service project supports teenagers (former mentees) between 14 and 18 years of age to engage in their own first experiences as volunteers in their community.
As a result of the kein Abseits! programme, participants improve their self-confidence, as well as their social and linguistic skills and learn about the possibilities of participation in society. Friendships beyond any differences develop between peers as well as cross-generationally.
In addition, kein Abseits! e.V. provides impact-oriented training focused on the development and impact measurement of mentoring programmes.
kein Abseits! has already won several awards (among others “Hauptstadtpreis für Integration und Toleranz” – Berlin Award for Integration and Tolerance) and has been certified with the impact-label by Phineo.

The Agency for Historical, Civic, and Media Education e.V. was founded in 2008 with the aim of promoting the online portal “Learning from History”. In the meantime, the scope of activities has steadily increased. Current core objectives are the promotion of historical, political, cultural and media-supported educational work as well as the organisation of conferences, educational and information events. Furthermore, we cooperate with other didactic and specialist scientific projects and suitable publication projects. The Agency operates on a national and international level. Its focus lies on the history of National Socialism, the Holocaust, Jewish history as well as the post-war period. We also deal with global and colonial history, the general history of the 20th century and current political issues. The Agency has four full-time employees, two honorary board members and ten general members.

“Aktion zusammen wachsen – Bildungspatenschaften stärken, Integration fördern”

Educational mentoring provides support for children and young people: volunteers read books to them, help them with their homework or give young people advice in choosing a career. Thanks to the mentorship process, the children and young people have access to an additional reference person who has time for them and assists them in getting to know, use and develop their own strengths.

With “Aktion zusammen wachsen – Bildungspatenschaften stärken, Integration fördern” – Integration campaign – strengthening educational mentoring, promoting integration –, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, in collaboration with the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, supports existing mentoring projects for young individuals with a migrant background and promotes the setting up of new projects. The aim is to give all children and young people access to the best educational opportunities regardless of their social and cultural background.

Mentoring projects are as diverse as the mentors and mentored children themselves. The project database of the “Aktion zusammen wachsen” campaign gives a good overview of the numerous projects – more than 950 – which can be found on the website www.aktion-zusammen-wachsen.de together with further information on educational mentoring.