Reflections from a Programme Manager: ‘It is beautiful to see that our connections are only getting stronger’
In July, we hosted the Celebration Event of the 14th Routes Mentoring Programme. Funded by our corporate partner Investec, we came together to celebrate the achievements of this 14th cohort at the lovely Bromley by Bow Centre. It was a night full of laughter, shared moments of reflection and recognition, and some wonderful networking too.
In this blog, Mentoring Programme Manager Shunn reflects on the Routes Mentoring Programme, and what she has learned since she joined Routes early in 2025.
Another mentoring programme has ended. It’s the 14th programme, meaning that Routes have supported hundreds of women since its inception of the mentoring programme. I joined Routes early this year as a second mentoring programme manager. It’s been great to see and support this 14th cohort from start to finish!
When I joined Routes, I joined at the time of the end of programme celebration for the previous cohort. It was full of joy, celebration of small wins and big wins and just being together building connections and solidarity. It was beautiful to witness that as a new person joining the organisation.
Now that I have seen the full cycle of the delivery of the Mentoring Programme from recruitment to the end of the Programme celebration, I’d like to share my experience as a mentoring programme manager working at Routes.
Mentoring Programme Manager Shunn (left) with mentee Aliaa and fellow Mentoring Programme Manager Tamana.
Values Driven Programme Design
What draws me to Routes is the organisational values: Joy, Welcome and Autonomy. These things are often not easy to come by in the refugee sector, where there is so much strain on organisations and pressure on individuals.
Joy is something we constantly need while working in the sector when the systemic oppression for women from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds. As first coined by Toi Derricotte, an American poet, the idea that “Joy is an act of resistance” resonates a lot with what we do at Routes, especially in the Routes Mentoring Programme.
Integrating joy and celebration
Pictured: Words for ‘congratulations’ in different languages, as shared by mentors and mentees on the 14th Mentoring Programme.
We find joy through daily actions of collective care, sharing one’s another passion, and supporting one another. We welcome one another starting from “would you like a tea/coffee? to providing safe space for our community through active listening and being there for one another. We practised autonomy through every aspect of our programme delivery and in our organisational operations on a daily basis. We believe that everyone is expert in their own journey and life experiences - and we value these different life experiences that bring us together.
As someone coming from a feminist movement organising space, values-driven work is personally crucial for me. The Routes Mentoring Programme is more than a 4 months 1:1 professional mentoring programme. It’s a place of joy, welcome and autonomy where everyone one of us - programme team members, mentors, mentees and partner and referral organisations - build a connection of community and solidarity.
“As someone with lived experience of seeking safety in the UK, especially in the hostile immigration system, those values not only build a web of community but also defiance in re-claiming the world we want to live where there’s justice, joy and collective care. ”
Pictured above: Celebration time! Group photo of mentors and mentees of the 14th Routes Mentoring Programme, with Mentoring Programme Manager Shunn at the bottom left.
Principles of Routes Mentoring
The Routes Mentoring Programme has its own set of principles, that guide how we design our support and that are also shared with our mentors when they start their training to become a Routes mentor.
Among our principles, I got to think a lot about the “communication is care” principle while I was co-delivering this 14th Mentoring cohort. How we practise care in our daily work is reflected in how we communicate with each other, to mentors and to mentees and to the wider Routes community members. It’s not only about active listening and providing safe spaces for the community, but also to foster the larger web of support within the community.
We believe in open and honest communication, while we also respect agency in our own life experiences. This may look like an easy thing to do but in reality it’s one of the hardest principles to embody. In a rapidly changing world where capitalism urges us to a fast-paced life, it is not an easy thing at all to sit back, listen and providing that space for reflections so that we can better understand and support each other.
Another principle that strongly resonates with me is the mentoring relationship should be empowering. The Routes Mentoring Programme has a strong focus on relationship-building, and taking the time to get to know each other as a core part of any mentoring relationship.
The connections that we build with one another should be nurturing, empowering and motivating - not the other way around. I have witnessed that part of the daily work that we do at Routes is building and sustaining those relationships to building a resilient community. These social relationships are what make us humans.
Pictured above: photos of the Celebration Event, with the web of connections and women congratulating each other.
Working at Routes as a mentoring programme manager provided me with new learnings especially in the UK social impact sector. It’s a joyous experience not only working at Routes, but specifically also as Mentoring Programme Manager, where a lot of thought, care and hard work pour into the delivery of each programme. Starting from the matching process for the mentoring pairs to introducing them with each other, supporting them throughout their journey and facilitating their transition to become part of wider Routes alumni network, each step is a small celebratory moment. I love how we are there for one another to help each other grow. It is beautiful to see that our connections are only getting stronger.
Are you interested in joining the Routes Mentoring Programme? Recruitment for our next Mentoring Programme will open in autumn 2025. In the meantime, feel free to email Shunn on shunn@routescollective.com for more information.
