Blended mobility activity in Portugal

The C2 blended mobility event was hosted by Aproximar, the initiators of the project RISING. The mobility event was attended by 9 participants from all partner countries involved in the project. Due to the fact that the event took place in Portugal, Aproximar was responsible for the organisation and timing of the entire meeting and the activities carried out together.

The meeting lasted five days, from 4-8 April, mainly in Amadora, at Aproximar's headquarters and in Lisbon city centre. The aim of the activity was, as stated in the project proposal, "a blended mobility of mentors to expand the knowledge obtained in local workshops with a transnational experience". The mentors, who were already familiar with mentoring techniques of the project, had the opportunity to expand their knowledge on the RISING mentoring techniques; learn about some activities to use with mentees; and also understand about the role of a mentor. 

The meetings were an opportunity to deepen their knowledge on the mentoring processes. Some time was devoted to discuss about how to be a mentor, with an emphasis on what qualities a mentor should have, and what qualities a mentee should have for an effective mentoring relationship.

The trip was also focused on the exchange of experiences between participants from the project partner countries; and on the evaluation of the tools developed so far. Such tools included the first result of the project: The Handbook on Mentoring for Social & Cultural Integration of Migrants, referred here, as The Handbook. Various icebreakers and tools for mentoring work are compiled in this tool, and it is divided into several stages, with suggestions and instructions for mentors to use.

During the blended mobility- C2, each partner-country had the opportunity to implement one activity from each mentoring stage. This was not only a good way to test the materials with eachother, but it was also important to get inspired in different ways to implement the activities.
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Additionally, there were team-building and cooperation activities to support and develop interpersonal competences in the participants (soon to be mentors). In addition, as Lisbon is a multicultural city, the event was enriched with visits to organisations that work directly with migrants, as well as visits to various 'colourful' and diverse local spots.

At the end of the activity, participants were enriched with the following skills:
- Ability to successfully implement the pilots;
- Understandning of the added value of the mentoring tools;
- Ability to implement robust mentoring processes using a structured evaluation system.
- Ability to lead a group.

The workshop agenda was as follows:

On the first day of the C2 event (4 April), Aproximar planned a social dinner at a Lebanese restaurant located in the migrant quarter. Apart from the undeniable social value, the organisers were keen to show the multicultural face of Lisbon. It was, of course, a good opportunity to meet and launch the event in a friendly.
Not all participants were able to take part, as some had delayed flights that day.

On 5 April, we had the opportunity to walk the streets of Lisbon.
We visited the organisation 'Delegação dos Cordoeiros', where we learned about the initiative 'Diários de Migrantes', which is a project that aims to give voice to migrants by making public their experiences, records, diaries or stories during their integration in the host country.
At the end of the day we also visited the organisation 'CulturFace Associacao Cultual Para Desenvolvimento', also aimed at migrants and focuses its professional practice on the integration of migrants. During
this very enriching visit, we had the opportunity to visit migrant neighbourhoods area and met with several residents.

We spent 6 April at Aproximar's headquarters for a mentoring training.
As Aproximar has a lot of experience in mentoring, hence the initiator of the project, it introduced participants to the basic principles and examples of mentoring models. This training was complemented by dynamic exercises with the participants so that they could practise and apply the content they had learned in practice.

On 7 April, all participants had the opportunity to present and apply some of the exercises from The Handbook developed at IO1.
Participants presented an icebreaker and/or tools from the chapter they developed and prepared for the others. This was an excellent way for everyone to familiarise themselves with the designed materials, as well as to give feedback on the tools and icebreakers.
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On 8 April, the last day, participants had the chance to present a photo that best described Lisbon's multiculturalism and tell a little about the photo from their own point of view.
Finally, the hosts summarised the whole meeting, the main conclusions were presented, certificates were handed out and the C2 evaluation was done.