Leveraging mentorship

Mentors can play a vital role in shaping your career, offering personalised guidance, skill development, and valuable networking opportunities that can accelerate your growth as an evaluator.

Whether you’re just starting out or seeking to advance your career, mentors can help support your career growth through:

  • Skill development and capacity building: Beyond technical skills, experienced evaluators offer insights into transferable skills, such as communication, leadership, and adaptability. These skills are essential for success in any field. In addition, personalised advice can help you address specific challenges you face, whether it’s refining your data analysis techniques or improving your report writing.

  • Problem-solving and decision-making: When faced with professional dilemmas, mentors can serve as sounding boards. They can help you analyse situations, consider alternatives, and make informed decisions. Drawing from their own career paths, mentors share valuable lessons that can prevent common pitfalls and accelerate your progress.

  • Goal setting and strategy: Mentors can help you clarify your professional goals and create a roadmap for achieving them. Whether it’s securing a promotion, transitioning to a new role, or expanding your network, mentors can provide strategic guidance.

  • Networking: Connecting with experienced evaluators can give exposure to opportunities, collaborations, and contacts.

While mentees benefit from mentorship opportunities, it’s important to recognise that the exchange is mutual. Mentors can learn about innovative approaches, different perspectives and cross-sectoral knowledge while developing leadership skills through the mentorship relationship. Your active engagement in the mentorship relationship is key to ensuring it is successful.

Organisations like EvalYouth offer exciting formats, such as the Global Mentoring Program (GMP) and P2p+ Sessions, which facilitate connections between mentors and mentees, fostering capacity-building and career advancement among young and emerging evaluators. Some VOPEs also have mentorship programs in evaluation.

It is also possible for you to find a mentor outside an established program. The Harvard Business article What’s the Right Way to Find a Mentor? provides steps you can take to establish a mentorship relationship with someone in your field.

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