Traditionally, mentoring is defined as "the establishment of a helping relationship between a younger person (the mentee) and an unrelated, relatively older, and more experienced person (the mentor), who can develop the young person's ability to connect with positive social and economic networks to increase their opportunities for a decent life." (Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development, 2005).

Mentoring is widely accepted as a valuable means to enhance opportunities for youth and their well-being (according to Herrera, Vang, and Gale, 2002). Moreover, effective mentoring is the relationship that focuses on the needs of the beneficiaries, provides caring and supportive relationships, and encourages learners to develop their full potential while being a strategy

for developing active community partnerships.

Extensive research has shown that effective mentoring leads to numerous positive outcomes, such as increased confidence and self-esteem, greater awareness and access to support services, improved educational outcomes, increased school attendance, better job opportunities, reduced harmful and risky behaviors, and provision of social, emotional, and interpersonal skills, strengthening relationships with other family members, and alleviating feelings of exclusion or isolation.

In addition to these benefits, mentoring can be beneficial for certain groups from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds in improving English language proficiency and is an important and effective strategy for youth who have spent longer periods in Australia and who know how to access support services. (according to Cassity and Gow, 2005)

Mentoring Models:

There are various mentoring models, several program structures, and many processes to evaluate these models that can be considered for providing services to youth from the Horn of Africa, and five main types of formal mentoring models in the field of service delivery can be identified:

1- Individual Mentoring:

This occurs when one adult mentor guides one young mentee.

2- Group Mentoring:

This takes place when one adult mentor conducts mentoring processes for a group consisting of four or more young mentees.

3- Collective Mentoring:

This describes mentoring processes conducted by multiple adult mentors working with small groups of youth, and the ratio of young mentees should not exceed four per adult mentor.

4- Peer Mentoring:

Any interested young person can develop a mentoring or educational relationship with another young person.

5- E-mentoring (Remote Mentoring):

This is conducted by an adult mentor connected to a young mentee via the internet.

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