VI. MONITORING PROCESS OF THE GROUP SOCIAL MENTORING

Process monitoring collects data at a number of points during process implementation to ensure that the group social mentoring is running smoothly and achieving its objectives according to plan. Its main aim is to find the way to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. It is based on the aims and activities which were set and planned before starting the process. It helps to keep the process in track and helps to notice in time when things start going wrong. If it is performed properly, it is very good tool for the management of the process and provides the base for evaluation. Also it helps you to find out whether your resources are sufficient and are well used, and whether you are doing what you planned to do.

Why monitoring. Monitoring is very important in process planning and implementation. It is like watching where you are going while riding a bike. You can adjust as you go and ensure that you are on the right track.

The tools of the monitoring: questionnaires with closed questions; the semi-structured questionnaires for the interviews; guidelines for rising the questions during the round table discussions and final social group mentoring meetings.

The importance of the monitoring:

• For the project.

During the project the social group mentoring method is adapted for the new target groups of disadvantaged people in different European countries, tested with these target groups, improved and prepared for the using in the future after the official end of the project. The monitoring process in needed in order to evaluate the method and its effect on the increasing the level of social inclusion of project target groups and provide the recommendations for the improvement and future use of the method.

• For the developing of the group social mentoring.

The monitoring results help to find the parts of the method which need the improvement and suggest how it could be done. The monitoring should be organised throughout all the mentoring process in order to notice its blind-spots in time, apply possible improvements and in this way to ensure the success of the mentoring process.

• For the participants of the mentoring process:

  • Mentees. During the monitoring process the expectations of the mentees for the mentoring process are collected and evaluated. This helps to adjust the mentoring process for the current mentees in order to get their expectations fulfilled.

  • Mentors. The main person who acts the important role in the monitoring process is a mentor within his mentoring group. He/she directly participates in the mentoring process with the final beneficiaries of the project and helps to collect their monitoring results as well as to provide his/her remarks. The monitoring importance for the mentor unfolds through the collecting and evaluating of the expectations of the mentees and thus lets him/her to respect the expectations of his/her group and help them to fulfil these.

  • Managers. With the help of the mentors managers collect the monitoring results, prepare monitoring conclusions and recommendations for possible improvements. The monitoring helps the manager to find out what succeeded during the mentoring process and what not, did the expectations of the mentees were fulfilled, did the mentoring process helped in achieving the main goal of the project – to increase the level of social inclusion of target groups – and to make the improvements for the future mentoring.

The aims of the monitoring:

• to evaluate the effect of group mentoring process for the project target groups;

• help find the blind-spots of the method;

• provide the recommendations of the possible improvements of the method.

The objectives of the monitoring:

• to evaluate the expectations of the mentees for the group mentoring process;

• to review the satisfaction of mentees in group and individual (if there were any) with the mentor;

• to evaluate were the goals of the mentees been sought for and have they succeeded to reach them;

• to analyse why the concrete goals have not been reached;

• to evaluate the effect of group mentoring meetings for the participants of the project;

• to provide the recommendations of the possible improvements of the method.

It is recommended to implement this monitoring methodology as integral part of the social group mentoring meetings in order to reach the main aims of the monitoring.

During the monitoring process such main factors will be analysed: were the expectations of the mentees fulfilled during the mentoring process and have they reached their goals.

During the evaluation of the effect of social group mentoring for the participants of the project such aspects are analysed: how the attitude of the unemployed towards active job search has changed, have they started to implement new job search methods, what intensity have they started to search for the job or possibilities to be actively involved into the social life, have they set some goals for the future to continue the integration into labour market and/or social life.

The remarks of mentors about their mentees also are considered – have they participated in the social group mentoring actively enough, have they sought for their goals and worked in unanimous team with other members of their group.

One of the factors that will be evaluated is have the individual goals of the mentees been reached and if not, what have prevented them from reaching the goals. The reaching of common group goals will be evaluated in the same manner.

During the evaluation of the goals of the mentees it is very important to pay attention which target group the mentee belongs and to consider her situation as the members of different target groups could have different needs.

At the end of the mentoring process the final evaluation should be made. During this evaluation it is very important to communicate with chosen mentors and mentees and to evaluate how the communication process within the group was going, did the mentor was matched with the group correctly, was the group dynamical enough, are the mentees satisfied with the mentoring process and the results achieved.

Methods of the monitoring:

• Initial survey of the mentees;

• Mid-term interviews with the mentees and mentors, statistical analysis and creating of mentors profiles;

• Final survey of the mentees and mentors.

These methods are used as integrated parts of the social group mentoring method.

Implementation of the monitoring:

• First phase. Analysis of the initial questionnaires of the mentees with emphasis on their expectations is done. The analysis should be followed with the suggestions for the contract and the organizational issues for the mentoring process as well to the themes of the discussions.

• Second phase. Mid-term interviews with mentees and mentors are done. The questions how to improve the process of the mentoring should be included. In accordance of the summary and analysis of these interviews improvements of the mentoring can be made.

• Third phase. The final meeting of the mentors and mentees is organised, the questions about overall mentoring process are discussed and the final questionnaires for the mentees and mentors are filled in. Evaluation with the special emphasis on the success and the impact of the mentoring and fulfilment of the expectations of the mentees and mentors is done. The common recommendations for the future are prepared.

The first phase of the monitoring starts at the beginning of the mentoring process and during this phase the mentees fill in the initial questionnaires which are used for the forming of the groups and matching the mentors with the groups. Also these questionnaires should contain the questions about the initial expectations of the mentees and why do they want to participate in the mentoring process. The initial questionnaire of the mentees could be found in the Annex No.7.

The second phase of the monitoring is organised in middle of the mentoring process in order to summarize information about the first half of the process and to evaluate how the process is going. During this phase the mentoring manager/coordinator makes the interviews with selected mentors and mentees with the questions from the Annex No.32, summarizes and prepares the recommendations for the improvements for the mentoring process if they are needed. Also the mentoring manager/coordinator makes a summary of the mentoring process and the collected statistical data according to the plan added in the Annex No.33.

The third phase starts with the final meeting/discussion with mentors and mentees during which the questions from the Annex No.34 are discussed. These questions should help the mentoring manager/coordinator to find out what succeeded during the mentoring process and what not, did the expectations of the mentees were fulfilled, did the mentoring process helped to increase the level of social inclusion of target groups. At the end of the meeting mentees fill in the final questionnaire (Annex No.35) with the evaluation questions about the fulfilment of their expectations, the degree of the achievement of their goals and their satisfaction in the mentoring process. The mentors should also fill in the evaluation questionnaire (Annex No.36) and evaluate the mentoring process in order to let the mentoring manager/coordinator find out whether the mentoring process succeeded and should something be improved for the future mentoring.

After the third phase of the monitoring the mentoring manager/coordinator prepares the recommendations for the improvements of the mentoring process and adds the information about the mentors, participated in the mentoring process to the data bank of the mentors. During the evaluation of the mentoring process the essential issues should be screened, the positive effect of the mentoring for the participants of the mentoring process, to compare different mentoring groups, to find out blind-spots of the implementation of the mentoring and to include the recommendations for the improvements into the final monitoring report.

Recommendations for the monitoring process

• Monitoring should be organised systematically – all the planned surveys of the participants of the mentoring process should be completed. It is recommended to pay attention to the composition of the mentoring groups and to the differences of these groups and to evaluate how the process develops in the groups formed of the members of one target group and in the groups formed from the members of different target groups. Also the communication within these different groups should be evaluated.

• At the beginning of the surveys and interviews it is necessary to explain to the participants the main aim of these surveys and interviews and to create comfortable environment. A person who is making the survey or interview should be good-natured, be ready to explain the purpose of concrete questions and answer to any questions of the participants. The interview should be non-formal; enough time should be given to the participant in order to avoid the pressure. Also the participants should be informed that these surveys and interviews are confidential, intended only for the current project and that not their answers but only the summarized results will be disseminated.

• During the final discussion it is recommended to follow the prepared questions and to discuss them within the group in order to help the mentoring manager/coordinator to evaluate the information collected during the discussion.

• It is recommended to make the final survey at the end of the final discussion and before it let the mentees to read through their initial questionnaire in order to remember their expectations and make the final evaluation smoother.