Womento career mentoring
Womento supports migrant women with higher education in finding employment which matches their educational and professional backgrounds, via one-on-one mentoring and group meets and training.
Organiser
Väestöliitto – The Family Federation of Finland
Summary
Womento is a goal-oriented career mentoring programme. Womento supports migrant women with higher education in finding employment which matches their educational and professional backgrounds, via one-on-one mentoring and group meets and training. The programme has a focus on enhancing migrant womens’ professional networks in Finland.
Target group
The target group of the Womento career mentoring programme is migrant women with a higher education degree; Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD degrees from abroad and/or Finland. We welcome working age women with immigrant backgrounds, who are looking for employment in their field of expertise in Finland. To participate in Womento career mentoring, one must know some basic Finnish as the program is conducted in Finnish and aims to strengthen the participants’ language skills, as a part of boosting employment and overall integration.
Description of activity and expected results and effects
Womento career mentoring is a voluntary process where a mentor assists a mentee (a woman with an immigrant background) in strengthening their capacities to find employment in the mentee’s professional field. The duration of the mentoring process for each pair is approximately 8 months, during which there are 4 group meetings in addition to monthly mentoring meetings between mentor and mentee. The Womento programme also provides for participants several trainings yearly on subjects related to job searching and networking.
The mentoring process begins twice a year, with application period opening each January and August. Womento mentoring is voluntary and free of charge for all participants.
Womento career mentoring creates networks between migrant professionals seeking work and experts from the same professional field who are actively engaged in working life in Finland. Through career mentoring and network building, migrant jobseekers get support both in building their professional capacities and in Finnish working life customs.
Womento career mentoring supports participants to achieve increased labour market participation, professional language skills development and improved social inclusion. The mentoring programme also contributes to increased labour market inclusivity and social receptiveness to migrant professionals.
The statistics from previous years – Womento has been running since 2011 – show the following results for migrant women who participated in Womento: about one third were employed in their own professional field; one third got an internship or a temporary job experience placement in their field or decided to get more education of their own choosing or continued education; one third said they gained stronger overall professional confidence during the mentoring process, but had no change in their labour market situation.
When I started my participation in Womento mentoring, I had not been invited for an interview for 8 months. During the Womento mentorship, I got invited to a job interview once a month until I finally got a full-time job after two years of job searching! I recommend participating in Womento mentoring to others. It was the best way for me to solve my employment challenge. I hope that someday I could give back, for example as a mentor myself.
– Quote from mentee, 2022
Theory and knowledge
There are continuous studies that show underrepresentation of immigrant women in the Finnish labour market in comparison to Finnish women, as well as with the situation in other Nordic countries.
Another challenge which Womento career mentoring seeks to address is the high percentage of overqualified immigrant women in the Finnish labour market: many migrant women have professional education and experience which exceeds the required qualifications needed for the job they do. Womento career mentoring tries to tackle both of these challenges.
Competences
It is necessary to understand the operational concepts of voluntary mentoring and understand the particular needs of the target group. There are guidelines to follow to make sure an initiative is ethical and successful and we are happy to share them with any organisation interested. There is manual supporting new initiatives wanting to benefit from Womento’s career mentoring model available in Finnish “Työuramentoroinnilla tuloksiin”.
The programme supports NGOs in Finland in setting up their own mentoring programme, based on the Womento career mentoring model.
Economy
Womento is funded by the Funding Centre for Social Welfare and Health Organisations (STEA). We recruit around 40 immigrant women and the same number of volunteer mentors each year. There are 1,5 coordinators working full time on the initiative. There are also costs related to facilities and training provided. In general, mentoring initiatives are a cost-efficient way to support immigrants on the path to labour market inclusion, with an added benefit of improving social integration through direct contact between immigrants and local residents.
Assessments of providers and views of participants
We see Womento career mentoring as one of our best initiatives as it brings proven results for the participants as well as meeting the wider social inclusion goals of the initiative. We follow and assess the mentoring process for each group for 8 consecutive months. The biggest challenge is to secure a growing and continuous funding for the initiative.
Participant surveys are conducted at the end of each mentoring cycle, to assess participant experience and the achieved results of the programme. We also conduct participant interviews at specific times during the mentoring process, to provide ongoing feedback and to assess programme effectiveness. Adjustments to the programme are made if required, based on the ongoing feedback mechanism.
Womento gave the mentors orientation and tools to start mentoring. This was important to me personally because the Womento programme was my first time as a mentor. I wondered beforehand if I had anything to contribute and if I could help, but the enthusiasm to be useful helped overcome my uncertainties. Uncertainty was also dispelled by the fact that in the program the mentee-mentor pairs were chosen based on compatibility of backgrounds. This gave me assurance that, at least because of my background, I could have something to give to my mentee.
– Quote from mentor, 2022
Evaluation, studies and monitoring
1) In 2022 Womento career mentoring was assessed and highlighted in the European migration network Finland study: Integration of migrant women- National Report of Finland as one of four good practice examples from Finland:
https://emn.fi/wp-content/uploads/EMN_Maahanmuuttajanaisten-kotoutuminen_2022_EN_FI_NETTI_.pdf
2) The Womento career mentoring initiative has been highlighted in 2022 as an EU- best practice case study on the integration of migrant women, as an example of good practice in gender-sensitive integration measures, in the “European migration network study- Integration of migrant women”:
https://emn.fi/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/EMN_STUDY_integration-migrant-women_23092022.pdf
About the study: “This study focuses on the main areas covered by the EU Action plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021–2027 that support the integration of migrant women for example in education and training, employment and skills, health and housing as these are considered by the Action Plan the base for societal integration.”
Womento is featured specifically in relation to adaptability, as the programme expanded to a digital format during the pandemic.” As e-mentoring has proved to be an agile model, starting from 2021, ‘Womento career mentoring’ is delivered virtually. The shift to remote activities allowed the project to expand its coverage from regional to national. The development of the e-mentoring model continues.”
Various aspects of Womento career mentoring have also been the focus of academic studies in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018. Links.
Learnings and dissemination
There are several organisations in Finland which have adapted the Womento career mentoring model for their own initiatives in NGOs, in the education sector and in the public sector.
The programme can be adapted and upscaled. Womento career mentoring hosts the “M3-network” in Finland, which welcomes interested organisations who are already executing mentoring programs for people with immigrant background or are planning to do so.
We have a training guide in Finnish, available on our website.
Read more and contact information
Homepage in Finnish: https://vaestoliitto.fi/womento
Homepage in English: https://www.vaestoliitto.fi/en/immigrants/womento-mentoring/
Contact information:
Gunta Ahlfors
gunta.ahlfors(at)vaestoliitto.fi
040 653 0057
Pilvi Aro-Marques
pilvi.aro-marques(at)vaestoliitto.fi
040 665 0779
This text was published 26.11.2024