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Mentoring is changing. Traditional “mentor teaches, mentee listens” models are no longer enough — especially in diverse, multicultural sport environments. Today, mentoring must be flexible, learner-centred, and respectful of different life experiences.
In Mentor on the Move, mentoring is not one-directional support. It is shared growth, shared learning, and shared empowerment. Mentors and mentees build skills together, learn from each other’s backgrounds, and create trust through movement, wellbeing, and communication.
For women and girls with migrant backgrounds, the right mentoring approach can:
Evolving mentoring is not a trend — it is a necessity for fair and culturally sensitive sport systems.
Mentoring is a structured, developmental relationship between a mentor and a mentee. Traditional mentoring often focuses on transferring knowledge from mentor to mentee, following hierarchical patterns. MOTM shifts this dynamic toward collaborative, reciprocal learning, where both participants bring knowledge, perspectives, and strengths.
MOTM is designed for culturally diverse contexts, particularly involving migrant and refugee women and girls. Inclusive mentoring explicitly recognises systemic barriers (e.g., language, cultural unfamiliarity, discrimination, economic factors) and works to remove these barriers, ensuring equitable participation and belonging.
Sport is not just an “activity” in MOTM — it is a core method. Shared movement creates informal, low-threshold spaces where hierarchies soften, trust builds through shared experiences, cultural and language barriers can be bridged nonverbally, and access to community networks (through sports clubs and groups) becomes tangible.
This is why linking mentoring to existing sports club activities is central: it embeds inclusion into local structures rather than creating parallel systems.
Inclusive mentoring involves three key stakeholders with interdependent roles:
Mentors – relational facilitators, allies, and cultural bridges; Mentees (actors) – active participants shaping their journey; Coordinators – structural enablers ensuring accessibility, partnerships with clubs, and programme quality.
In MOTM, inclusive mentoring means shifting from a one-directional relationship to a shared journey. Mentors act as allies, mentees as active actors in their development, and coordinators as enablers who make inclusion possible through structure, support, and sport club partnerships. Sport and physical activity are not extras — they are core tools for building trust, inclusion, and sustainable participation.
Mentor is the expert; mentee follows. Hierarchical and directive.
Collaborative and based on mutual learning; power imbalances reduced through shared activities.
Differences are ignored; mentee adapts to the dominant way.
Differences are acknowledged; mentors adapt style and activities; coordinators provide sensitivity tools.
Skills and performance within existing systems; success = “fitting in”.
Empowerment, belonging, and barrier removal; sport builds confidence and inclusion.
Informal access; networks decide; marginalized groups left out.
Intentionally structured and inclusive; active recruitment and club links.
Authority / problem-solver; directs actions.
Ally, facilitator; supports agency and self-set goals.
Passive recipient; adapts to mentor’s way.
Active participant and co-creator; expresses goals and makes choices.
Unclear or limited; relies on informal mentor effort.
Strategic enabler: structures the programme, trains mentors, builds club links.
Rare; meetings in static or formal settings.
Central method; walking, dancing, club sessions, or games build trust; leverage existing club activities.
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What one structural change (coordinator), one relational change (mentor), and one personal step (mentee/actor) will you prioritise in the first month?