In February 2021, Terre des hommes (Tdh), together with its partners, Organization for Aid to Refugees, Fundacja Ocalenie (Poland) and Slovenska Filantropija (Slovenia), organized the final MINT (“Mentoring for the Integration of Third-Country Migrant Children”) conference. This marked the end of the project, and it was on this occasion that the mentorship methodology that had been developed was presented and discussed in terms of opportunities for its use in other settings throughout the European Union.
The two-year project aimed to support and facilitate the integration process of migrant children by strengthening their social relations and empowering them and local youth from the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. This was achieved through an innovative programme of peer-to-peer mentoring, introductory language and culture courses, awareness-raising measures and child-led advocacy, which included videos reflecting children’s own experiences of migration.
Within the MINT Project, two mentoring cycles were implemented between 2019 and 2020, involving 111 local youth and 137 children across all participating countries.
During the conference, youth and child mentors from each country shared their personal experiences. “It was extremely rewarding to help children and see their smiles, energy and genuine enthusiasm the whole time,” explained Sabina, a Romanian mentor.
Among the conclusions reached at the conference was that mentoring programmes should be more widely adopted and rolled out as they help to create links between local communities and migrants. They give both migrant children and local youth a sense of empowerment because, together, they overcome cultural, social and linguistic barriers.
Terre des hommes and its partners wish to thank the conference speakers and guests. The event was part of the MINT (“Mentoring for the Integration of Third-Country Migrant Children”) regional project, supported by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union. You can watch the conference here:
