All Articles, Toolkit 4 - Developing Young Women's Leadership Through Youth Work

GOAL SETTING

I was just amazed that an adult would want to spend time talking with me about my dreams. No adult has ever really had time for me.

Mentee, Nigeria

This section provides you with resources so that you can help your mentee to set goals. We would expect this to take several weeks: there is no need to rush. Remember: this is about helping her grow in skills and confidence. 

Vision Board 

A great way to start is by developing a vision board. On a piece of paper, or on the computer, ask your mentee to put together a series of images that represent her goals or how she would see herself in the future. You could cut up newspapers or magazines (you may need to save some in advance!). If you are unable to cut out or find images online or in magazines, you could ask the girl to draw her own pictures of her goals. 

Discuss these goals with her! Why does she want to achieve them?

Mapping Goals

You can now map her goals. This could be in the same session or the next session.

Help her to list her goals in the following categories:

  • Family and friends 
  • Education or work 
  • Community or social action
  • Wellbeing and personal development 

SMART Goals 

SMART means: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound. Thinking about our dreams in this way helps us to turn them into a reality. You may choose a few of the goals identified above, and turn them into SMART goals. Once you have made progress with them, you might want to return to this section, pick some new goals, and think about how to achieve them: 

  • What EXACTLY do I want to accomplish?
  • How will I know when I reach my goal?
  • Can I do this?
  • Is it possible to meet this goal with effort by my timeline?
  • When do I plan to achieve my goal?

Reviewing Goals

It’s important to write down our goals to reflect on them later. If we don’t we won’t learn from them. Sometimes failing is an excellent tool – it helps us to identify our weaknesses, so we can address them, or identify the best way to learn or make progress. 

At the beginning or end of a term or semester, or the allotted mentoring cycle in your youth club, reflect upon:

  • What were your mentee’s agreed goals
  • What has been achieved 
  • What has been learned from this by both the mentee and mentor
  • What you want to do next – keep going, set a new goal or something else

Our Latest Posts:

Spread the love