New report highlights effective mentoring practices for working with migrant newcomers

By Michelle Crijns & Peter De Cuyper, Reprinted from Ku Leuven

Crijns, M. & De Cuyper, P. (2022). Towards effective social mentoring practices for migrant 

newcomers Leuven: HIVA-KU Leuven.

Text reprinted from the Summary

Social mentoring for adult migrant newcomers is a new and emerging type of mentoring that has particularly gained in popularity in the wake of the European ‘refugee crisis.’ It is known by a multitude of names including ‘buddy programs’, ‘parrainage’, ‘mentoring’, ‘patenschaften’…

As a new and barely studied field, good practices of social mentoring for newcomers are largely unknown or anecdotal. Yet, the design of a mentoring program will, to a large extent, determine its effects. This publication is developed to gain a better understanding of ‘what works’ within social mentoring for newcomers in order to ensure that newcomers can benefit from high quality and impactful mentoring. The publication starts from the state of the art related to the different steps in the mentoring process (recruiting, selection, matching, mentoring relationship, closure, training & follow up) and adds experiences and concrete examples from 10 good practices in Belgium. Based on these findings, recommendations were formulated, tested in three municipalities, and adjusted if needed.

This publication offers inspiration for organisations and/or local governments that would like to set up a mentoring programme. It is also a starting point from which knowledge and expertise about ‘what works’ within social mentoring for migrants can be systematically developed.

To access the post about this discussion, please click here.