Political parties are unanimous in favor of mentoring

What is the future of mentoring for employment in the Brussels-Capital Region? This is the question that the ten main Belgian political parties were invited to answer.

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‍Political parties are unanimous in favor of mentoring

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Brussels, 11 April 2024 - Yesterday, the DUO for a JOB association invited ten representatives of political parties to express their views on the future of mentoring in the Brussels-Capital Region. Ten weeks before the elections, their unanimous support will be crucial to widely deploy this tool during the next legislative term, whose impact on employment and social cohesion is well established.

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Mentoring, a powerful tool

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”DUO for a JOB is one of the greatest successes of the Brussels Region among the various programs that ACTIRIS is developing.” emphasized Bernard Clerfayt. Indeed, the results presented by DUO for a JOB at the introduction of the debate demonstrate the impact of this tool: out of 2,700 young people supported between 2015 and 2021 as part of the Actiris Mentoring measure, there is a positive exit rate of 77%, with 63% of them having found a job. These results are consistent, whether for the long-term unemployed, women, or those with a low or unrecognized educational level.

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Given the impact and profitability of mentoring, we should offer this individualized support to each job seeker who needs it, in order to truly work to restore equal opportunities in Belgium.” said Elisabeth Verniers, the association's advocacy manager, at the opening. ”But for that, Belgium must have a legislative and financial framework to deploy and structurally anchor mentoring for employment in the various regions.”

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Mentoring, a Swiss Army knife

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The speakers highlighted the real Swiss Army knife that DUO for a JOB represents in responding to the main political challenges in Brussels and in turn underlined its impact on youth employment, the inclusion of newcomers, gender inequalities, gender inequalities, gender inequalities, social cohesion and end-of-career management.

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“The DUO for a JOB project values older workers. This valorization makes it possible to combat the social isolation of the elderly, it creates intercultural and intergenerational links.” highlighted Karine Lalieux, who also shared after the event that “the @PSofficiel wholeheartedly supports DUO for a JOB”.

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After hearing the testimonies of Pierre-Arnold, Fatimata, Jeanne, Jeanne, Jeanne, Jeanne, Kadija, Jan and Peter, mentors and mentees of the association, Barbara Trachte also recalled that “you cannot evaluate a public policy or an action like that of DUO for a JOB only with employment figures. Obviously there are profitability figures but there are also all the human impacts that are difficult to measure but just as important.”

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Unanimity

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All these elements clearly convinced the participants, who all recognized the positive impact of mentoring at the end of the debate and unanimously expressed their wish to guarantee its funding during the next legislative term. “In our program, we have a numerical objective concerning the mentoring of 5,000 duos by 2030 and 10,000 duos by 2035” specified Christophe De Beukelaer.

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In the current budgetary context of the Brussels Region, the speakers underlined the need to make choices by financing initiatives that have demonstrated their positive impact on society: “The sustainability of mentoring funding is an essential element, even if it involves choices, but DUO for a JOB works, so you have to choose it.” said Olivier Willocx.

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They also recognized that funding mentoring was an investment rather than a cost to society. Benjamin Dalle put it clearly, “every euro invested in solid employment projects, such as mentoring, is more than profitable.”

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Building on these results and the support shown today by its guests, the association will continue its advocacy in the coming months, with other mentoring actors, to include the deployment of mentoring in the general policy declarations of the various regions.

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Two other round tables on the same subject are planned on 16/04/2024 and 08/05/2024 in Charleroi and Antwerp.

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