What is ENCYMO?
ENCYMO is a network of some 100 organisations in 15 European countries. Some 20 of them have a network with between 2 and 150 local contact points or offices.
The local organisations and affiliates are the critical driving force of the whole mentoring idea. In their community they find volonteer mentors and match them with children and youth who asked for an adult friend. The young people and their legal representatives approach the local offices directly or through social workers.
The volonteer mentor has to undergo a screening procedure and has to commit himself for at least a year. He/she is regularly monitored and assisted by the local mentoring office.
Over the past 25 years most of the mentoring organisations have started through independent local initiatives.
Sometimes they receive public and very rarely private funding. They often work in close cooperation with the public social services. Usually demand for mentors exceeds their local availability by far. Waiting lists for mentees are quite common.
If your are interested as a parent, social worker, potential mentor or even donor (!) to find out more about this great idea please look up the contact list and contact the organisation nearest to you.
If you don' t find an organisation near your home, maybe you would consider creating one yourself. In that case approach the organisation in your country whose profile appeals most to you. They will be happy to tell you how they started and how you should go about it. You also may contact the coordinator of ENCYMO.
Outside Europe, volonteer mentoring of children and youth on a one-to-one basis has a 90 years long tradition in the United States and Canada. The biggest mentoring organisation alone ( Big Brothers Big Sisters) has over 650 local offices with over 160000 invidual matches on the continent.
