ABSTRACT
A four-stage mentoring schema, part of a national action research initiative, has been used in designing and installing a variety of youth mentoring programmes in several states, higher education institutions, as well as local school communities. Four stages of mentoring – initiation, cultivation, transformation and separation – describe the development and growth of protégé from a state of dependence and low self-confidence to one of autonomy and self-reliance. Specific skills and competencies of mentors are identified along with descriptions of effective behaviours that mentors use to empower youth.
