By Cida Cavalcante

Twenty-two-year-old Ana Célia Arcanjo lives with her parents in Recife‚ Brazil. While she was growing up‚ her family and friends assumed she would become a poorly paid laborer‚ or maybe not find work at all. Despite Brazil’s recent economic boom‚ 40 percent of youth in Recife are unemployed‚ and less than half of the city’s 18- to 24-year-olds are continuing their education. However‚ thanks to AED’s Programa Para o Futuro‚ Arcanjo is now a key breadwinner in her household.

She learned to set up computer networks‚ diagnose and repair technical problems‚ and install and configure software. Perhaps most important though‚ through AED’s “eMentoring” methodology‚ Arcanjo and 49 of her peers used e-mail and instant messaging to conduct conversations with working professionals who taught them marketable skills and gave them career counseling. One skill Arcanjo learned was to present ideas professionally and accept criticism graciously.

“No one from our communities could teach us this‚” because they do not have the same knowledge or experience as the mentors‚ she said.

BREAKING THROUGH BARRIERS
Widespread racial and class-based discrimination in Brazil normally would have prevented such interactions between youth like Arcanjo and middle-class business people. Arcanjo knew this from personal experience. “Before the program, if any of us saw these professionals on the street‚ we would never have had the opportunity to talk with them‚ let alone build a relationship [with] and learn from them‚” she said.

But the electronic communications used in Programa Para o Futuro enabled them to break through those biases. As part of AED’s design for eMentoring‚ the pairs could only meet face-to-face after the relationships were cemented through months of online conversations.

“eMentoring helps relationships form based on the exchange of words and ideas‚ not prejudice‚” said Eric Rusten, director for new ventures with the AED Information Technology Applications Center. “Through eMentoring‚ disadvantaged youth see themselves in a new world as professionals; they can become whoever they want.”

LOW COST‚ HIGH IMPACT … NOT SIMPLE
Programa Para o Futuro started the first eMentoring program in Brazil‚ and it continues to grow. Rusten attributes this to the attention AED and its partners place on the complexity of the activity‚ which requires a dedicated coordinator for eMentoring‚ structured activities‚ training‚ and‚ above all‚ persistence. The “eMentoring program is extremely low-cost and high-impact‚” he said‚ “but achieving success it is not simple.”

Arcanjo sees the complexities of eMentoring from multiple perspectives. Not only did she benefit from learning under a successful professional‚ but she also became a mentor herself.

“As a professional in the eMentoring program‚ I had to meet someone’s expectations. I had influence on someone’s life‚” she said‚ adding that her newfound sense of responsibility‚ and her ability to change her society positively‚ was the best part of the experience.

‘IT REMOVES BARRIERS TO SUCCESS’
The first eMentoring efforts started small‚ Rusten admitted‚ but as a result‚ he believes the program’s success will continue and expand‚ as it offers a tested means to educate a new workforce‚ improve access to career training‚ and ultimately narrow the gap between rich and poor in a world with increasing economic disparity.

This March‚ AED and its affiliate‚ ADE–Brasil‚ will use eMentoring in a new economic-empowerment program‚ funded by the Nike Foundation‚ that will reach more than 800 very poor young women in Recife. In addition‚ this year AED is bringing eMentoring to youth in Mozambique and South Africa.

“In terms of changing lives‚ eMentoring is irreplaceable‚” Rusten said. “It removes barriers to success and accelerates transformation.”

Cida Cavalcante is ADE-Brasil’s coordinator for eMentoring.

Learn more at www.adebrasil.org.br

 

 

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