Tipp students feature in mentoring programme
The Shona Project, a non-profit organisation which strives to create a support system for Irish girls as they navigate their way through their teenage years, yesterday announced details of a new mentorship programme which sets out to pair adolescent girls around Ireland with professional female mentors.
The businesses announced as taking part in the first year of the programme are Allianz, CBRE, Fitzgerald Power, McCann Fitzgerald, Salesforce, &Smyth Creative Communications and VHI. These companies will supply a total of 26 professional mentors who were paired with a teenage girl from schools around the country until the end of the this school year. Among the girls taking part in the pilot programme are Adaeze Blessed Ogoegbunam, Alannah Mitchell, and Kim Fitzpatrick from Comeragh College, Tipperary.
For the 2024-25 academic year, The Shona Project are on track to reach almost 190,000 girls across Ireland through their workshops, events, and other projects.
Mentoring Benefits
According to Tammy Darcy, Founder and CEO, The Shona Project, “Research on the benefits of mentoring has shown that it can result in better academic performance, better school attendance, positive attitudes, decreased likelihood of initiating illegal drug and alcohol use and decreased violent behaviour. It has also been linked in studies to social-emotional development benefits, improvements in youth perceptions of parental relationships, and better prospects for moving on to higher education.
The benefits and outcomes of mentoring align perfectly with our mission, so it only seemed natural for us to develop this programme now and we are honoured to have such wonderful Irish businesses come on board with us in this first year of the initiative. Our aim is to continue to grow the mentorship programme and continue to match inspirational professional role models with girls to help support them through their teenage years.”
By facilitating connections between adolescent schoolgirls and women in the workplace, The Shona Project hopes that girls will have:
•Increased understanding of career options, journeys, and experiences of women in the workplace
•Increased career aspirations and an expanded network of career support
•Increased confidence to find and implement solutions to the challenges they may face
•Enhanced understanding of how to create and implement a strategy for themselves and plan for future
The Concept
The development of the initiative was supported by three leading Irish businesswomen, Oonagh O’Hagan, Lucy Gaffney and Eva Pau who funded the research and refinement of the concept.
The programme will run across a nine-month period, which entitles the teenage girls to seven sessions with their assigned mentor. Each mentor will be provided with the training and tools to help provide the best possible outcomes for each mentee. Alongside Comeragh College, Presentation Secondary School, Waterford, Presentation Secondary School, Kilkenny, Presentation College Carlow and Coláiste Mhuire Askeaton, Limerick will also be taking part in the pilot mentorship programme.
About The Shona Project
The Shona Project CLG aims to educate, empower, and inspire today’s girls in Ireland to become tomorrow’s strong, confident and curious young women. To ensure that all Irish girls have the skills, tools, and self-esteem they need to achieve their potential, TSP has adopted a multi-pronged approach which includes school workshops, an engaged online community, events & projects.
The Shona Project’s work has received a number of awards in recent years at national and international level, including The European Citizens’ Prize 2023, the Red Cross Award for Innovation for Change 2021, and the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year 2021.