The competition for the jubilee 10th generation of mentors, under the program “Share Your Knowledge” is in progress! The program is jointly implemented by the US Embassy in Belgrade, Erste Bank, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the European Movement in Serbia.
The Share Your Knowledge program is a unique program that opens up opportunities for women’s personal and professional development. It is based on the concept of mentoring and is aimed precisely at building mutual support for women, through sharing knowledge, experiences, strengthening solidarity, promoting good role models, networking and empowering women.
The goal of the “Share Your Knowledge” program is to professionally and personally empower women in our society through the exchange of experience and knowledge. It is driven by the idea that successful and professional women, leaders from different professions, share their knowledge and experience with young women of similar interests in order to create opportunities for young women to advance their career paths, with the intention of achieving a positive shift and laying the foundations for a healthy future long-term cooperation.
Since 2012, by involving the Organization for Security and Co-operation in the implementation of the Program, one of the major contributions has been to provide a stronger mechanism for greater inclusion of Roma women and women from the rural area as participants in the Program.
A stronger focus on the inclusion of Roma women and women from the rural area, allows to dismantle prejudices and stereotypes that exist on both sides – within the majority group, but also within marginalized groups and create an atmosphere and conditions for creating equal rights and chances.
“We act like that too – we separate. But now we are part of a group – honestly! ”- commented by one Roma alumna.
The partner organizations and the Program itself nurture and promote the values of solidarity, equality, tolerance, and inclusiveness in society. Positive discrimination is realized with the aim of encouraging Roma women and women from the rural area to recognize the Program as a place where they can take equal opportunities to take professional and personal development and become part of an inclusive and solidarity women’s community in our society.
Positive discrimination is based on encouraging Roma women and women from the rural to apply to participate in the Program by organizing outreach sessions to inform and support interested women to apply for participation in the Program. This method allows candidates from these two marginalized groups to directly get informed about the program and apply for participation.
Between 25 November and 11 December 2019, 3 outreach sessions will be organized to support participation in the Share Your Knowledge program for Roma women and women from the rural area.
Applications for participation in outreach sessions for Roma women and women from the rural area can be made by sending an e-mail to mentoring@emins.org with the title “Signing up for outreach Share your knowledge session” stating the name, phone number, and address of the candidate’s residence.
The program will be implemented from January to November 2020. During this time, the mentor and the selected mentee will be in contact, sharing experiences and meeting periodically. It will be organized 2 round tables where all program participants will exchange opinions and experiences and discuss on different topics with experts, 3 workshops aimed at further empowerment of knowledge and practical skills and one study visit outside of Belgrade. They occur every last Saturday of the month (except March (March 7, 2020) and July).