A Mentoring Competence Framework for the European Solidarity Corps

The Mentoring Competence Framework for the European Solidarity Corps has been developed by the Mentoring under Construction Community. This article is an update and walks you through the latest version of the tasks and competences of the framework that has been launched in November 2024.

A mentor provides support and guidance to a young person during their volunteering journey.

Mentoring is one of the main support measures of the European Solidarity Corps programme. Mentoring contributes both to the value of the volunteering project as well as the well-being of the volunteer.

This Mentoring Competence Framework was developed by mentoring practicioners of the Mentoring under Construction Community, a community that supports learning and developing mentoring and coaching competences and helps improving the quality of mentoring and coaching within the European Solidarity Corps programme (and beyond). Find out more about how this framework was built at the end of this article.

The main purpose of the Mentoring Competence Framework is raise the quality of mentoring support within European Solidarity Corps projects providing a clear and effective guidance for mentoring practicioners.

The Mentoring Competence Framework in European Solidarity Corps

• helps clarify the role and tasks of a mentor,
• balances the need for clarity and the flexibility of adjusting mentoring the the local and organisational context,
• supports the recognition of mentor competences, and provides useful guidelines for designing training courses for mentors and coaches.

Let’s explore the Mentoring Competence Framework

The structure of the Mentor’s Competence Framework

A framework is a basic conceptional structure (Merriam Webster Dictionary) or a system of rules, ideas, or beliefs that is used to plan or decide something (Cambridge Dictionary). A competence framework is a structure that defines competence and behaviours required by individuals working in an organisation. A competence framework ideally aligns required tasks, behaviours that are required, valued, recognized and rewarded to carry out those tasks and knowledge, skills and attitudes that individuals need to perform and fulfil their role and tasks in an organisation. Additionally a competence framework can include and touch on values, mindset and/or ethical practices if necessary.

In line with the recommendations of the Mentoring and Coaching under Research report, a Mentor’s Competence Framework should cover the following three areas: the tasks of a mentor and the competences that are needed to fullfil these tasks (mentoring competences). Additionally we described foundations of mentoring, meaning important values and mindset of mentoring and guidelines for mentoring (code of conduct).

The Tasks of a Mentor: 9 Focus Areas

A task is a usually assigned piece of work that is often to be finished within a certain time.

Merriam Webster Dictionary

Taking a very broad perspective we asked what tasks are in place to support the volunteering journey of a young person in the European Solidarity Programme. Together with the Task Force we came up with a list of 10 tasks of a mentor.

In order to get a better overview, we put them in three groups:

• Providing guidance
• Increasing impact
• Enhancing collaboration

Providing Guidance (core)

The role of a mentor in providing guidance to volunteers is holistic, encompassing not only the specific tasks but also the personal and cultural aspects of the volunteer experience. As a support person, the mentor offers orientation, helps navigate challenges and ensures a positive, enriching experience for the volunteer. The core focus areas in providing guidance include:

• Assisting the volunteer in local and cultural integration
• Supporting the volunteer’s well-being
• Assisting the volunteer in dealing with difficult situations and conflicts

Increasing Impact (additional)

The mentor’s role in increasing impact involves fostering a culture of continuous learning and development, promoting the values of the ESC Programme and helping to create an inclusive and safe environment for the volunteer. The focus areas of increasing impact are additional and include:

Enhancing collaboration (optional)

The mentor’s role is to encourage and empower volunteers to integrate and collaborate with others, enabling them to make meaningful contributions to the organisation. This may include providing ongoing training and regular feedback to the volunteer. Mentors also plan and document their mentoring activities and give feedback to the organisation to improve the volunteer’s experience and project outcomes. Enhancing collaboration includes optional focus areas such as: 

• Facilitating orientation and integration with the organisation
• Managing groups and teams
• Planning, documenting and reporting

An effective approach to implementing and improving mentoring support is to start by providing guidance, which encompasses the core focus areas of mentoring. From there, additional focus areas can be introduced to increase the impact of mentoring, while optional focus areas further enhance collaboration.

An effective approach to implementing and improving mentoring support is to start by providing guidance, which encompasses the core focus areas of mentoring. From there, additional focus areas can be introduced to increase the impact of mentoring, while optional focus areas further enhance collaboration.

Focus areas and specific tasks

Each focus area has a list of specific tasks. Here is an example:

Download: The Tasks of a Mentor | A Mentor’s Competence Framework (coming soon!)

Focus Areas and Mentoring Competences

Here, we provide an overview over focus areas and competences related to them.

Providing Guidance (core competences, essential for all mentors)

Assisting the volunteer in local and cultural integration

• Facilitating cultural navigation and awareness
• Fostering intercultural learning and reflection
• Building trusting relationships

Supporting the volunteer’s well-being

• Raising awareness of well-being
• Supporting well-being practices

Assisting the volunteer in dealing with difficult situations and conflicts

• Providing support in managing difficult situations
• Providing support in managing conflicts
• Supporting (self-)regulation of emotions

Increasing Impact (additional competences, enhancing the impact of mentoring)

Facilitating learning and development

• Raising awareness of learning and development
• Supporting planning and implementation of learning and development
• Supporting reflection and assessment of learning and development

Raising awareness of the ESC Programme’s values

• Raising awareness of the Programme’s values
• Supporting alignment of activities with the Programme’s values

Ensuring inclusion

• Creating an accessible and safe environment for volunteers
• Providing reinforced mentorship

Enhancing collaboration (optional competences, enhancing collaboration and long-term impact)

Facilitating orientation and integration with the organisation

• Supporting the onboarding process
• Supporting volunteers’ integration within the organisation

Managing groups and teams

• Supporting team-integration process
• Supporting team cooperation

Planning, documenting and reporting

• Planning mentoring support
• Documenting mentoring activities
• Reporting to the organisation

Download Mentoring Tasks and Competences | A Mentoring Competence Framework (coming soon!)

Mentoring Foundations: Values – Mindset – Guidelines

A holistic approach to learning and development means addressing the head (thinking), the heart (feeling) and the hands (doing). „Learning by head, hand and heart” – a principles going back to Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi – can be found today in the centre of various learning and educational settings, including our field of Non-formal Learning.

We borrowed this principle to conceptualise values, mindset and ethical guidelines:

• Values – the heart – are a set of principles and standards that guide our behaviour and actions.
• Mindset – the mind (or head) is a set of intentions and beliefs that help us to orient in our decisions and actions.
• Ethical Guidelines / Code of Conduct – the hand – are a set of (written) rules and guidelines for quality mentoring.

Why are values, mindset & ethical guidelines important?

Values, mindset and a code of conduct are the foundations of a competence model for mentors. They encouraging effective and ethical mentoring relationships and mentoring practice that support and guide the learning and development of volunteers.

Values, mindset, and ethical guidelines ensure…

• guidance and consistency: they provide a clear direction and guidance for the behaviour of mentors and ensure consistency within and across mentoring relationships,
• trust and credibility: these principles help building trust and credibility between mentors and their volunteers and create a safe and supportive environment for learning and development,
• professional development: they invite and encourage mentors to reflect on and improve their behaviours and practices and contribute to their professional development and effectiveness,
• positive outcomes: these principles help fostering positive mentoring relationships that enhance the learning and development of their volunteers.

What values, mindset & ethical guidelines are important for ESC Mentoring

• What values inspire mentoring?
• What mindset fosters quality mentoring?
• What guidelines should include a code of ethics for mentors?

During our Meeting in Vienna, we brainstormed and discussed important values that drive mentoring. We had a huge collection of values. In the end we narrowed it down to four values: Integrity, Self-Agency, Dignity and Togetherness.

A Mentors’ Competence Framework | Slides

A Mentor’s Competence Framework by TOSCA POOL