Africa Representative Report for the IAVE Board Meeting, November 2006

Mentorship Programme in Mauritius

This report gives an insight of the mentorship programme initiated for young entrepreneurs in Mauritius in year 2005. This programme is part of the regional SADC programme.

The programme has been implemented in Mauritius through YES-Mauritius which is a network of seven non governmental organisations each operating differently. The lead organisation is Halley Movement which is an established NGO working since 1989 with children and young people.

This programme targets the private sector businesses and it focuses on improving small business practices and processes thus increasing the productivity of youth enterprises by providing a mentorship programme. YES-Mauritius strives to build and develop the capacity of the young entrepreneur with skills and knowledge through expert advice from successful business persons.

YES-Mauritius Network’s objective is to promote youth employment in Mauritius and in the region.

The following have been earmarked for the second phase of the Mentorship programme by YES-Mauritius.

• Identification and recruitment of new mentors and protégées.
• Matching sessions for both parties with YES-Mauritius as the coordinating committee.
• Orientation sessions for Mentors and Protégées.
• Learning Workshop.
• Follow up activities.

Internet Safety for Children - Safe Surfing Campaign 2006
The awareness campaign initiated by ICSF aims at sensitizing parents and young people on dangers found on Internet.

The campaign started at Batimarais Village on Saturday 25^th March and was inaugurated by the Minister of Information Technology. This workshop gave the kickoff as the first of a series of activities for year 2006/7.

The purpose of this campaign is to bring the message of safe surfing to every spectrum of the society and reach out to every one, on the importance of the Internet, the dangers associated with it and the need to protect children from its negative effects. The campaign will be supported by:

• Counseling to parents with safety tips
• A power point demonstration
• Educational materials will also be freely distributed and same will comprise brochures, posters, stickers, bookmarks and fact sheets.

International Participation
YES Kenya Summit, Nairobi, Kenya - September 2006
As Country Coordinator of YES-Mauritius, I was invited to present a paper on Mentorship Programme for young entrepreneurs this year in Kenya.

The YES-Mauritius Network is composed of the following organizations:

o Halley Movement
o Internet Child safety Foundation
o Mauritius Youth Volunteer
o Southern Youth Association
o Hope for Adolescents
o Halley Chapters-Rodrigues Island

YES-Mauritius worked with the government of Mauritius to officially register the mentorship programme for accreditation and recognition purposes. Those mentors who wished to make mentoring a career were encouraged to go through that process.

The main objective of the programme was to increase the productivity of youth enterprises by providing the mentorship programme

YES-Mauritius wanted to respond to the aspirations of young entrepreneurs and serve them by imparting skills that help them gain access to and compete in the local and international markets

IAVE membership in the region.
During the past months, I have been able to recruit a couple of new members and have also been able to encourage existing members from Mauritius to renew their membership dues.

Mahendranath Busgopaul
Africa Board Member
October 27, 2006.