Press Release
Mentoring and befriending schemes can reduce tension in multi-cultural communities says report launched at national conference
4th June 2008
Voluntary-based mentoring and befriending programmes can bring about far greater community cohesion and help migrant workers and foreign nationals to settle into Britain, according to a report to government this week from the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation.
Launched at the Annual National Mentoring and Befriending Conference in Manchester the report says mentoring and befriending should be more widely established to reduce tension and segregation within communities.
The study finds that mentoring or befriending schemes can help people who feel isolated or find it difficult to settle in a community or they can help individuals who feel marginalised or socially excluded.
The Cohesion Report makes nine recommendations as to how the wider use of mentoring and befriending schemes could create a more positive impact on society and it calls on the Government to make funding available to develop services across all public sectors.
Properly funded and structured programmes in which people who need help and support can meet with and talk to a volunteer mentor are seen as successful drivers towards community cohesion.
Welcoming the report, Phil Hope MP, Minister for the Third Sector said:
"I welcome this constructive new report from the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation. It is a useful addition to the growing body of evidence that one to one voluntary engagement, particularly mentoring and befriending, helps people who are socially isolated or new to the community to contribute to making those communities stronger.
"The Office of the Third Sector encourages the expansion of good quality mentoring and befriending programmes in helping to develop cohesive communities and reaching out to people whom government often cannot reach."
Speaking at the annual national conference the minister said measures were being taken to address the issue of short-term funding and sustainability, a problem that faced many community-based projects across the country.
The report was produced by a steering group representative of several different social inclusion, refugee and volunteering organisations. It refers to the case of Shivakuru Selvathurai, an asylum seeker in Liverpool who devotes over 40 hours a week befriending British-born people with mental health problems whilst Godefroid, a refugee from Rwanda and who was mentored by the Refugee Council Programme in London, is now working as a public health adviser and studying for a PhD.
The report also refers to an intergenerational befriending scheme in West Yorkshire where older people are befriended by young students and professionals in a transient community now dominated by a student population.
Steve Leach of the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation, who chaired the steering group, said:
“We hope that the findings and recommendations within the report will further advance the argument for a more robust and cohesive mentoring and befriending policy across government and across the country.”
“We know that these services work for people with all different needs and challenges and that properly funded sustainable programmes can bring about lasting solutions in the lives of individuals and contribute greatly to community cohesion.”
To receive a copy of the report and access case studies/photographs contained within the it please contact:
Trevor Green, Public Relations Officer
T: 0161 787 8600 M: 07767 654076; E: trevor.green@mandbf.org.uk
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