On 4th September 2018, more than 60 people gathered to celebrate the official opening of the 2nd season of the United Nations-Nuclear Young Generation (UN-NYG) Mentoring Programme.
Spirits were high as DDG-MT, Ms Mary Alice Hayward, who is also the executive sponsor of the programme, inaugurated the event with an inspiring speech on the value of mentorship at the workplace. Opening remarks were also provided by Mr Denis Subbonitskiy, the Vice-President of the UNNYG. Ms Amelia Lee Zhi Yi, the Mentoring Coordinator of the programme, provided a short introduction of new changes to the Mentoring Programme. Unlike the pilot, which lasted 3 months, the 2nd season of the programme will run for 6 months, over the course of October 2018-March 2019 with increased programmatic elements to enhance the mentoring experience.
Work has been put in to strengthen the structure of the programme, which now includes a 3-month formal period, in which participants are encouraged to attend 2 special workshops developed by MTHR. During the following 3-month informal period, mentees and mentors are free to develop and work on personal and professional goals. A networking event, in which current participants and alumni of the programme are invited to, will be held during this informal mentoring period.
A short icebreaker, in which mentors and mentees were invited to share stories on their most interesting jobs and fun facts, served to initiate conversations and set the tone of sharing in the programme.
The 2nd season of the mentoring programme has 38 mentor-mentee pairs in which seven IAEA Directors, 15 section or lab heads, 15 senior staff and 1 IAEA retiree will mentor 38 junior professionals. This year’s programme was opened to interns, consultants and P-level and G-level staff. We are also pleased to announce that, in the spirit of forging cross- departmental and organizational relationships, members of UNIDO, UN Vienna and CTBTO were also selected as mentees in the programme.
The mentoring programme, developed in collaboration with MTHR and supported by the DDG-MT, Ms Mary Alice Hayward, provides a unique platform for young staff members to strengthen their professional skills and improve networking capacity through the cultivation of cross-departmental relationships. The programme is based on three pillars: knowledge transfer, professional development and networking. It allows each mentor-mentee pair to determine the formality of the relationship and frequency of meetings, and includes shadowing experience for the mentee with their mentor.
The Mentoring Programme is led by Ms Amelia Lee Zhi Yi and supported by the mentoring team — Ms Reagan Aylmer and Mr Babatunde Adigun. It is the IAEA’s first cross-departmental mentoring programme developed in close collaboration with the IAEA Division of Human Resources (MTHR).
We wish all pairs a successful mentoring season and look forward to meeting you at the closing event!
by Amelia Lee Zhi Yi
UNNYG Mentoring Coordinator