Managing mentoring for the labor market integration of humanitarian migrants

Abstract

This paper examines the design and operational challenges of managing a mentoring program supporting the labor market integration of humanitarian migrants. Data were collected using extended participant observation of organizational activities and processes, analysis of internal and external-oriented documents and communications, and interviews with a range of program stakeholders in a French organization working with recently arrived humanitarian migrants. Utilizing theoretical insights from value creation approaches, the paper identifies how the organization attempted to construct value propositions, including how these were embedded in the program's design and actors' engagement. Moreover, it examines critically how these were interpreted, enacted and occasionally subverted through the perceptions and actions of the various actors involved in the program delivery. In doing so, the study evaluates how the scope, goals and impacts envisioned by the organization translated into participants' experiences, which potentially shaped program outcomes. The findings stress the implications of program specialization and distributed governance on the effective management of mentoring schemes aimed at facilitating migrants' transition into work.