Project results
Our approach encompasses not only a robust methodology but also a comprehensive toolkit designed to facilitate the peer mentoring process, aimed at mitigating depressive behaviors and fighting social exclusion among young individuals. This toolkit comprises several components: Firstly, an online skill assessment tool is provided, which evaluates social and communication proficiencies. It offers personalised feedback to individuals aspiring to become mentors or seeking to enhance their skills further. Secondly, we offer a detailed guide tailored for educators, providing insights on effectively supervising the mentoring process. This guide equips educators with the necessary knowledge and strategies to support and guide both mentors and mentees throughout the mentoring journey. Lastly, a diversified set of activities is provided to enable mentors and mentees to engage collaboratively. These activities are designed to foster solidarity and social competencies, resilience, and emotional well-being, thereby reinforcing social bonds and enhancing psychological fortitude among participants.
- Set of tools
- Educator’s guide
- Bibliographic Research
- Pilots
Set of tools
What is it?
The Set of Tools is a comprehensive collection of activities and materials designed to strengthen young people’s social, personal and emotional competences within the mentoring process. The tools support both joint mentor–mentee sessions and individual self-paced exercises, ensuring flexibility for different learning needs and contexts.
Organised across several competence areas — social skills, personal skills, mental resilience and wellbeing — the toolkit offers a variety of interactive and creative methods. These include role-playing games, collaborative challenges, artistic tasks and reflective techniques.
Together, these tools provide mentors and young people with structured yet engaging ways to develop confidence, communication abilities, cooperation skills and emotional strength throughout the mentoring journey.
Educator’s guide
Who is it intended for?
The Guide for Educators is designed for teachers, youth workers and professionals who support young people participating in peer-mentoring initiatives. It provides clear, practical guidance on how to prepare both mentors and mentees for the process, and on how to accompany them effectively throughout their collaboration.
Rather than acting as coaches or direct instructors, the guide encourages educators to take on the role of active observers: creating safe conditions, noticing group dynamics, and empowering young people to learn from one another within their own social environment. The Guide supports reflection on educational practice and promotes a shift toward a more youth-centred, autonomy-building approach.
By equipping educators with this perspective, the Guide reinforces the peer-mentoring process and helps young people — particularly those at risk of exclusion — develop confidence, resilience and strong social competences.
Bibliographic Research
What is it about?
The bibliographic research brought together existing knowledge and scientific evidence produced within the scientific communities of all partner countries involved in the StrongerYouth project. In parallel, an empirical study was carried out to collect new, project-specific data directly from adolescents across the consortium’s countries.
To ensure coherence and comparability, the Portuguese team at the University of Évora developed two methodological documents: one providing guidelines for the bibliographic review, and another defining the procedures for the empirical research with adolescent samples. Based on these shared frameworks, all partners conducted the same research steps in their respective countries and reported their findings in a harmonised way.
This combined research effort focused on understanding how young people communicate — with peers and with the wider community — as well as their needs, values and social competences. Drawing on both desk research and a survey involving 600 young respondents, the study provided a reliable evidence base for the development of the project’s core outputs, including the online assessment tool for identifying mentor candidates’ social and personal skills.
Pilots
What did the pilots test?
The pilots were carried out to test the tools developed in the previous work packages and to understand how they function in real mentoring contexts. Before the piloting phase, both educators and mentors received dedicated training to ensure a consistent and informed use of the materials.
During the pilots, partners tested the Set of Tools created within the project, including the self-assessment tool for mentor candidates. This practical implementation made it possible to observe how the tools worked with young people and mentors, identify any necessary adjustments, and finalise the materials for long-term use.
The pilots were conducted in all partner countries, allowing the tools to be tested across different cultural contexts. This provided valuable insights into their relevance, usability and adaptability, reinforcing the project’s aim of creating resources that can be applied in youth settings across Europe.
