Leadership Through Mentoring 79

“A Day of Leadership Mentoring across Victoria.”

 

Project Goal

To develop and promote the leadership capacity of people with disabilities across all local governments in Victoria.

Project Objectives

• To develop a mentoring process and appropriate resources for the project
• To promote the Mentoring Day through appropriate state-wide peak organisations
• To identify potential leaders who have a disability who would benefit from participating in the Mentoring Day.
• To assist mentees to identify other leadership development opportunities

The Project

The project will pilot, evaluate, design and implement a Leadership Mentoring Program that increases leadership opportunities for people with a disability. The “Leadership Through Mentoring 79” project will arrange for 3-5 people with a disability to be involved in a Mentoring Program with Councillors, Chief Executive Officers and Senior Managers in each of the 79 Local Governments in Victoria.

The project is intended to take place on one day in the year, and will be one of the days in Leadership Week. Leadership Week usually falls in the last week of July.

The project will have four phases:

• Phase 1. Project pilot.

This will be undertaken in partnership with one local government region, three outer metropolitan and two inner metropolitan local governments, (10-12 Councils in total). The negotiations with the participating Councils will occur in May, June and July 2005, with the pilot announced in Leadership week (24 th - 29 th July 2005). The mentoring activities will take place during October and November 2005 with the awarding of certificates to the Mentees and Mentors occurring on, or close to, International Day of disAbility (3 rd of December 2005).

• Phase 2. Pilot evaluation.

The pilot will be independently evaluated In December and January 2005/06. The evaluation will measure the degree to which outcomes of the pilot have been met. It will make suggestions regarding improvements to the project and strategies for their implementation.

• Phase 3. Project roll out.

The project will be rolled out during 2006 based on the findings of the pilot evaluation. The milestones in such a process will include:

•  Enlist support from all 79 local governments

•  Enlist support from rural/metro/deaf access workers and Disability Planners based in Local Government

•  Develop materials and resources for mentors and mentees

•  Launch the project

•  Undertake the mentoring

•  Celebrate at a ceremony

•  Phase 4. Further leadership development

The project in both phases 1 and 2 (Pilot and Project roll out) will ensure that the mentees are informed of all future leadership opportunities available to them. In particular, Leadership Plus and the Councils will be encouraged to provide places in their up-coming leadership training/development initiatives.

Possible Partners and Their Role

Partner	Role
Leadership Plus (Lead Agency)	Provide advice and expertise in developing and implementing the mentoring program Develop relevant documentation including Mentoring Agreement Provide support and advice to Rural & Metro Access workers and Disability Planners/Disability Services Officers To offer further opportunities for leadership development to mentees who have completed the program
Rural & Metro Access Project Officers and Disability Planners/Disability Services Officers	Promote the Mentoring Program at their respective Councils Liaise with relevant Council staff to plan and implement the Mentoring Program Provide support to mentors and mentees as required
Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV)	Promote the Mentoring Program to local government across Victoria
Victorian Local Government Disability Planners Network	Promote the Mentoring Program to local government across Victoria Provide support to Disability Planners/Disability Services Officers to plan and implement the Mentoring Program
Office for Youth / Department for Victorian Communities	Promote the Mentoring Program to local and state government across Victoria Fund the independent evaluation of the Pilot Promote the Mentoring Program to relevant state government departments

 

Timelines

 

Task	Timeline
Establish Steering Committee	May 30, 2005
First Steering Committee meeting	May 09, 2005
List participating Councils for the Pilot	June 30, 2005
Announce participating Councils and launch Pilot in Leadership Week	July 24-29, 2005
Mentoring documentation developed and distributed	August 30, 2005
Mentors and mentees selected	September 30, 2005
Mentoring Program Pilot implemented	October, November 2005
Certificate Presentation, International Day of disAbility	December 3, 2005
Pilot Evaluation	December 2005 & January 2006
Enlist support of all Rural & Metro Access Project Officers and Disability Planners/Disability Services Officers	March, April 2006
Sign up 79 Councils	May 2006
Recruit mentees & mentors	June, July 2006
Undertake Mentoring Day	End July 2006
Certificate Presentation, International Day of disability	December 3, 2006
Final Evaluation Report	December 2006 & January 2007

 

Development, Implementation and Evaluation

The development, implementation and evaluation of the Mentoring Program will be guided by a Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will be made up of representatives from the following organisations/programs:

• Leadership Plus (lead agency)

• Rural & Metro Access Workers and the Department of Human Services

• Victorian Local Government Disability Planners Network

• Municipal Association of Victoria

• Department for Victorian Communities (Office for Youth)

• Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YacVic)

It is proposed that the Steering Committee would meet mostly via telelink, with face-to-face meetings if required.

Evaluation Questions/Themes for the Pilot

• Were the mentoring tasks developed, appropriate for the project?
• How effective were the promotions for the Mentoring Day?
• How were potential leaders with a disability identified, and what were the benefits of the Mentoring Day for them?
• How were the mentors recruited, and what were the benefits of their participation?
• What other leadership development opportunities were identified for mentees, and were the mentees accepted into them?
• What were the costs in undertaking the Mentoring Day and who covered them?
• What strategies will need to be adopted/changed in the roll out (phase 3) to make it a success?
• What other learnings were there from the evaluation of the pilot?

Resourcing

Every attempt will be made to deliver the pilot within budgets of the agencies participating (cost neutral). Additional costs, both logistical and operational, that are incurred by Leadership Plus may be submitted for, to DHS. The costs for the independent evaluation of the Pilot will be sought from Department for Victorian Communities.