Sylvia Anie

"A mentor is a counsellor, cheerleader, and a comrade who works purposefully to guide, motivate and uplift."

"What a journey the past year has been! It has been one of twists and turns, but certainly a highlight for me has been meeting 25 young men and women with the zeal to confront global health inequalities. For me, playing the role as their mentor and creating an enabling environment to help them explore the huge possibilities and opportunities of advocacy in health was inspiring, to say the least."

"During my mentoring journey, I have learnt to listen better, to cope with interruptions, to provide answers when the young advocates could find none, and to argue and encourage positivity during the health pandemic of COVID-19."

"In role-modelling, I shared information about my career path and provided guidance, motivation and emotional support. Together, we explored careers, we set achievable goals, developed new contacts, shared old contacts, and identified resources. We debated the usefulness of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, the design of realistic indicators, and developed capacity-strengthening techniques."

"In the year of mentoring, I enhanced my own skills in counselling, negotiating, picking the right moment, and sharing the good and the not so good news."

"Everyone needs a mentor… I do too"