The purpose of this booklet is to support the Vietnamese partners of the UNDP and Ministry of Foreign Affair’s project Women’s Leadership by providing information and guidance on an effective approach to build the capacity of potential women leaders. It can be used by academic institutions, civil society organizations or the administrative government. Examples provided in the booklet come from a variety of sectors and countries including Viet Nam.

The booklet is intended for individuals who are considering starting a mentoring programme in their organization. It is a guide to help you think through some elements of mentoring; its a compilation of findings from research as well as stories highlighting best practices, common challenges and personal experiences as participants in mentoring programmes. It also provides some tools to use to help develop and implement a mentoring programme in your organization. The author is Jean Munro, Senior Technical Advisor of UNDP’s Women’s Leadership Project.

Mentoring programmes are shaped by the environment they are in, by the leaders of the programme and, of course, by those most involved – the mentor and mentee. Each programme is unique and each mentoring relationship is different. It is not possible to take a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to design a programme that would fit all organizations. Therefore, this guide provides you with outlines of programmes, key questions to consider and many tools. However, it is up to each organization to shape the programme to fit your need.

There are four main actors involved in a mentoring programme; senior organization leaders, the mentoring programme coordinator, the mentor and the mentee. Described in this booklet are the roles and best practices of each. In the annexes are some tools that can help run the mentoring programme as well as tip sheets for the mentoring relationship.

The UNDP Women’s Leadership Project is running a support programme for all project partners interested in running a mentoring programme within their agency. This booklet will be the basis for the implementation of the support programme. More information on mentoring can be found at the Women’s Leadership Project website – www.lanhdaonu.vn.

Full text of Mentoring in Viet Nam - An effective capacity building approach for women leaders: mentoringen20140915toreprint.pdf