Mentoring USA-Italy, is a partner of the EMBEP Project “European Mentoring and Befriending Exchange Programme”, supported by European Commission – Lifelong Learning Programme – Grundtvig.

We held a workshop in Salerno, Campania Region, from 22nd to 25th October 2014, with the participation of all the partners in the project: Netzwerk Berliner Kinderpatenschaften – Germany; Befriending Networks – Edinburgh, Scottish Mentoring Network – Glasgow – United Kingdom and  Caritas Schweiz – Lucerne – Switzerland.

The theme of the workshop was “How to Setup a Mentoring Intervention and the Mentor’s Training Process” with particular emphasis on the “one-to-one” Method of Mrs. Matilda Raffa Cuomo, founder of Mentoring USA.

The European Mentoring & Befriending Exchange Programme arose from the need for mentoring & befriending coordinators to exchange their knowledge and experience across Europe in order to increase the quality of their work, generate new ideas and find solutions to common problems.

The partners not only participated in the workshop but also in cultural activities to learn about the artistic beauty of Campania region. In particular they visited the historic centre of Salerno, “Villa Guariglia”, the ceramics museum in Raito – Amalfi coast and, the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum.

For Mentoring USA-Italy, the EMBEP Project is an important opportunity to discuss with other organizations which base their mentoring and befriending on one-to-one interventions  aimed at providing informal support creating a relationship of trust over time.

There are several roles that mentoring can play e.g. in school, in training and in employment. In addition it can be a very useful support for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, where the primary purpose becomes that of “including the excluded ” .

After Germany, Scotland and Italy, it’s now up to Switzerland which will host the final workshop in 2015, from 11th to 14th March!