MENTORSHIP SIGN-UP FORM FOR 2024
Dear Mentor
We are grateful to you for considering becoming a mentor of KEI scholars.
Please see details of the mentorship program, qualification for mentors, outline of the program, frequently asked questions and some mentoring resources on the lower section of this page.
1) Have you completed higher secondary education?
2) Are you currently in College or have completed a college degree?
3) Are you willing to spend a minimum of 2-4 hours per month for 09 months?
4) Do you believe you can be a guide for an 11th grader to achieve their long-term goals? (You do not need to provide tuition or assistance with curriculum; we have separate resources for that).
If you answer yes to all of these questions, please fill out the form:
Mentorship Program
Overview:
The KEI mentorship program is an exclusive program for its scholars in our High School Scholarship Project. This scholarship is based on merit and is awarded to those students who have excelled in their 8th boards. While our scholarship provides some relief from financial hardship, the major objective of our programs are to provide our scholars a community, resources to develop academic excellence, counseling and mentorship not only to develop successful careers but also to develop skills to become independent thinkers and future leaders.
Many of our scholars come from diverse backgrounds and often do not have a qualified elder who could guide them properly. KEI aims to fill this gap through its unique mentorship program; the first of its kind in Kashmir.
Our structured program is a year-long association of qualified mentors with mentees, aimed to support and encourage our scholars to manage their own learning in order that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.
We are very blessed to have highly qualified, dedicated, and committed mentors who come from diverse backgrounds from all corners of the world to guide our scholars. Many of our mentors have continued year after year and become strong supporters of our mission. We are indebted to them since this program would not exist in absence of their continued support.
Currently, we are focussing our mentorship efforts on 11th-grade scholars as we believe this is the most important formative year and scholars are ready for guidance. We would love to expand this program from 200 to all the 800 scholars but are constrained due to logistics and availability of mentors.
Mentorship Program Jan -Dec 2023
| Number of Mentors | 172 |
| Number of Mentees | 172 |
| Men | 80 |
| Women | 92 |
Mentorship Program: Who, What and When?
Mentee
Who?
Mentee will be KEI scholars, in Grades 9th to 12th , from ten different districts of Kashmir Valley. They are students with high dreams and ambitions, with unique personalities. They are high achievers who lack social support and guidance.
Mentors
Who?
If you are in a college, university or have completed your studies or are well settled in your career path, please consider becoming a volunteer mentor.
We have many volunteers who have been mentoring for many years and need no guidance , however, if this is your first opportunity to guide others we will provide orientation and other resources to achieve our common goals.
A typical KEI mentor is well versed with the vision of KEI and believes in, and is passionate about the KEI cause and mission.
Some desirable qualifications of our mentors:
- Mentor has to be more experienced and qualified than the mentee but age gap is not a barrier. While senior mentors bring wealth of experience, sometimes young mentors may connect better with mentees.
- Mentors need to use a soft gentle approach as the mentees may take time to get comfortable to interact.
- Mentor needs to be consistent and patient.
- Mentors need to use vocabulary that is well understood by the mentees. However, the gap between the two should not be too wide.
- Mentor needs to be comfortable interacting with children in the age group of 13 to 17 years.
- Our scholars come from diverse financial and social background. The mentor should have a good understanding of the hardships and the family environment of the mentee.
What do mentors do?
- Guide and counsel, providing advice and direction towards the mentee’s goal.
- Act as a role model and a support system for the mentee. Share your experience, achievements and knowledge with them.
- Build a relationship of trust with the mentee so that they are comfortable in sharing personal information with you.
- Spend quality time and ask questions to help fill out the vacuum in the mentee’s life. Be inquisitive and open with the mentee. Identify gaps and consequently form a plan with the mentee to achieve outcomes.
- Use the committed amount of time each week to encourage self- awareness in the mentee.
- Help develop their soft skills. Encourage time management and organizational skills.
- Support their goal and academic development and help them to unlock their potential. Help them and guide them in times of academic difficulty.
- Encourage them to think big dreams and be confident and positive in their outlook.
- Challenge them to think beyond their comfort zone and reach higher levels of success.
- Be a beacon of hard work and integrity for the mentee to follow. Instill and encourage qualities like honesty, diligence, and truthfulness.
- Report and maintain the records of the interactions with the mentee regularly and on time. Answer queries from KEI.
- Be regular and committed with your interactions with the mentee. Observe and notify KEI in case of any issue with the mentee, beyond your role.
- Person should be willing to abide by KEI regulations and submit an interaction form every month.
How does the process work?
- Fill up the KEI volunteer/ Mentor enrolment form
- Fill out a mentor profile form.
- Once selected, the mentor will be matched and paired with a mentee.
- A privacy consent form needs to be signed.
- Once paired, a profile of the mentee will be shared with the mentor. Various documents like the mentorship guidelines and talking points will help in building the relationship.
- KEI will facilitate the first interaction between the mentee and the mentor, which will be mutually decided by both. KEI values our volunteer’s time and tries to work around their schedule.
- After the second interaction, the mentor needs to fill out a baseline form for KEI, about the mentee.
- Come up with a plan with your mentee, which will help them with their long-term goals.
Mode of communication
The mentor can choose one or more of the modes below. This will be one of the factors that KEI weighs while pairing. It also depends on the location of the pair. Modes used for interaction:
- Face to face
- Phone call
- Skype
- Messenger chat like WhatsApp or Viber or Zoom
When?
- Minimum requirement is to give your mentee half an hour to an hour every week.
- The time and day will be mutually decided, which KEI will facilitate.
PROGRAM OUTLINE
The mentorship program is structured and each month is focussed on developing a particular skill.
Major Outline of the Program
| STAGES | Goals | Time Period (MONTH) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Exchange Information and formulating Goals; Establish Engagement | Month 1 |
| 2 | Work on setting daily timetable, weekly goals, monthly milestones and improving learning targets | Month 2 |
| 3 | Exchanging Information and Formulating Goals | Month 3 |
| 4 | Career Exploration | Month 4 |
| 5 | Building self-esteem, self-respect, self-integrity and being socially responsible through sharing examples and motivational stories etc | Month 5 |
| 6 | Explore and encourage in extracurricular engagements | Month 6 |
| 7 | Ask a mentee to write his her own short story about his/her achievements, setbacks & struggle and also his her assumed role in life | Month 7 |
| 8 | Review academic performance and compare it with the initial mentee feedback | Month 8 |
| 9 | Encourage in self-help in future planning and self-reliance and also ask him/her to search mini mentee to be mentored by him/her within his/her family as an empathic guide and a mini mentor. | Month 9 |
| S. No. | Resource | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Becoming a great mentor | Click Here |
| 2 | Introduction to Mentoring: A Guide for Mentors and Mentees | Click Here |
| 3 | How to be a Good Mentor to a Student- mentoring TIPS and STRATEGIES | Click Here |
| 4 | Become A Great Mentee - Advice and tips | Click Here |
| 5 | Tips On Mentoring Someone | Click Here |
| 6 | How should a mentoring conversation be structured? | Click Here |
| 7 | How to Be A Good Mentor | Click Here |
| 8 | Tips About How to Mentor Someone | Click Here |
| 9 | How to Be a Good Mentor | Click Here |
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can be a mentor from anywhere in the world, as long as you meet the KEI criteria.
As such there is no maximum time, it is up to the requirement that you perceive in your mentee. However, the minimum time is an hour per week.
No, the minimum requirement is to sign up for a year. It takes time to build a relation with the mentee and make a difference in their life.
KEI will pay for the phone charges.
KEI is there to guide you and train you, if needed.
No, KEI mentoring is purely a volunteer effort, where the mentor learns as much, if not more, from the experience, as the mentee. It is a mutually beneficial relationship. Moreover, KEI is a volunteer driven organization.
Please ask them to fill out the mentor form on our website www.kashmirei.org/mentorship/
Yes, that is the requirement, but it can be different under special circumstances, or if both the mentee and mentor decide so.
The minimum requirement is high school graduation and higher. The KEI scholars are academically bright and hardworking students they need highly educated role models who can maximize their potential.
KEI understands your busy schedule and appreciates your time. Anytime you cannot interact as per the schedule please inform your mentee and KEI beforehand.
No, you are not their tutor, but you can help them with their academics, or guide them towards the right help. However, if you wish you can tutor them in their academics too.
No, you need not worry as all mentees sign a form of confidentiality. Whatever you talk about will remain between the two of you. There are KEI guidelines for the mentee which they have to follow.
KEI will pair you with another mentee, as long as there is a reason.
Please give KEI a notice of minimum two months. Abrupt leaving will hurt the sentiments of these scholars, who are at a very sensitive age. KEI also needs time to match them with another mentor.
Anytime there is a change in the schedule between you and the mentee please inform the coordinator. You can meet the mentee only after informing KEI. KEI respects and protects its scholars’ and their parents’ wishes. In case of any change in the regular interaction that has been decided between the pair, you need to inform KEI so we can get the mentee’s parent’s consent.
KEI only pairs same gender mentees and mentors. This is one of the criteria we follow while matching.
KEI will match you with another mentee, who can comprehend you.
KEI will help you with concepts and plans. KEI has developed an activity guide to help in times of stagnancy.
Yes, KEI can provide you with a certificate and recommendation for your work with us.
Sure, you can, as long as you can commit to the minimum time requirement of half an hour to an hour per mentee per week.
No, KEI appreciates your time and commitment to our scholars. Mentoring is free of cost.
Yes, you can communicate your preferences to KEI. However, the final matching comes from KEI. You can always opt for another mentee, if you want.
KEI mentorship coordinator is always available for any questions or concerns you may have with your mentee or about the program.
No, only at the times and days scheduled. However, the final call is yours; you can extend your relationship with your mentee, as long as KEI is informed.
That's not a problem. We are always more than glad to answer any of your questions, queries or concerns. You can submit a form here. We will get back very shortly.
Success Stories
Mentor Mentee Journey
My name is Ifat Shabir and I am student mentor at KEI. Its my 2nd year with KEI's mentorship programme and it hasbeen an immense pleasure working with the organization and its scholars. During my 2 years mentorship journey I was assigned with 2 mentee's, namely Anum Malik and Toiba Nabi.
It was really a wonderful experience getting to know both of them through the sessions we used to have. I learned a lot from both these young talented girls, theywere so talented, hardworking and intelligent, fully focused towards their goals and dreams. They both used to perform well in their school's and secure good marks in their studies.
I'm really grateful and honored that I got the chance to know about these talented girls.. Mostly the topics which I used to discuss during our sessions was about the importance of soft skills especially technological skills, scope of different subjects and streams, how to build self-esteem, importance of self study, learning styles and techniques,etc.
It has been an amazing experience of sharing and talking about the information with them. Being a mentor has been really a great,challenging,full of fun,information and learning process. I'm grateful to have the opportunity and I must thank and appreciate KEI for their efforts towards their scholars giving me this opportunity to be a part of their mentorship programme. Thank you KEI.
Mentor Ifat Shabir
Kashmir
I am Toiba Nabi and a student of class XI Science. I am being mentored by the amazing Ifat Shabir, an absolute gem of a person. She has been inspiring so far and a true mentor.Initially, I thought it would be tough to engage withher considering my attitude towards strangers However,She handled me pretty well. To start with, she would ask about my day, gradually about my studies and eventually about future plans regarding my career. We would normallytalkon Sunday and on each Sunday we would plan the topic we could be discussed forth coming Sunday.
One striking thing about her is that she constantly talks about importance of Soft Skills. Everytime we talk, an impeccable discussion would take place regarding the scope of each Subject that I am currently pursuing. She would share her personal experiences to make me confident about myself and the way I should take forward.
I must thank KEI for providing me with such an wonderful andgenerous mentor. She is not only a mentor but a well wisher, friend and a Teacher.
Mentee Toiba Nabi
Kashmir
Kashmir Education Initiative
Telephone: +0194-2458153
www.kashmirei.org