INGENAES believes mentorship fosters professional growth and ability for both mentors and protégés, thus creating greater capacity for systematic change toward gender- and nutrition-sensitive agricultural extension services. As such, INGENAES has launched a mentorship program. INGENAES mentors and protégés will engage in structured, one-on-one partnerships supported by the INGENAES team, as well as the mentor-protégé partners in other countries where we work. Through their participation, mentors and protégés will gain professional partnerships, professional support, and strengthened capacities in agricultural extension. The mentoring program will be consistently supported and monitored by the INGENAES team at the University of California, Davis to ensure that both the mentors and protégés are benefiting from this program.
Mutual Mentoring Guide by University of Massachusetts Amherst offers excellent guidelines and expectations for new mentors and proteges, as well as a great list of questions and ideas to get you started during your first meeting with your mentor or protege.
Establishing Effective Mentoring Relationships for Individual and Organizational Success from the Journal of Extension lists some conditions for success and suggestions for extension programs considering implementation of a mentorship program, based on the results of a study in Pennsylvania Cooperative Extension.
The Relationship Between Mentoring and the Career Advancement of Women Administrators in Cooperative Extension from the Journal of Career Development provides an excellent list of attributes of mentors within the same organization as their protege. The article also addresses whether mentorship aides women’s career advancement in the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension system, and explores the idea of peer to peer mentorship.
Building Bridges: Leader-Mentor Handbook from New Mexico State University was created to help mentors understand their specific roles and responsibilities in mentoring undergraduate students. This concrete list of expectations, benefits, and specific tasks can serve as a great guideline to those planning or supporting a mentorship program.
Mentoring Handbook by University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, as well as “Mentoring- First Meeting Discussion Topics” and “The 16 Laws of Mentory” provide good one-page handouts for proteges and mentors, including lists of expectations and responsibilities, interest assessment forms, and evaluation forms.
How to Build a Successful Mentoring Program and Como construir un programa de mentoria existoso by the National Mentoring Partnership is a comprehensive toolkit for designing, managing, evaluating, and wrapping up mentorship programs. A variety of approaches to each step in the mentorship program development process are described, making this a helpful resource for many different types of organizations and mentorship goals.