International Cooperation Mentoring Programme

The CEPOL International Cooperation Mentoring Programme aims to strengthen the development, knowledge, skills and expertise of all involved parties, contributing to better work effectiveness and the exchange of best practices. The benefit of the programme goes beyond an individual level and provides overall benefits to participating individuals and organisations by enhancing skills and increasing knowledge sharing.

It is a learning activity that provides law enforcement officials with the opportunity to share expertise in a dedicated professional area, promote knowledge transfer, and enhance the individual skills of officials working in the same domain. From a long-term perspective, this programme contributes to trust building and to strengthening cooperation between the EU Member States and the involved partner countries.

The CEPOL International Cooperation Mentoring Programme provides mentoring opportunities within the frame of the following CEPOL International Cooperation projects:

• Counter-Terrorism Information Exchange and Criminal Justice Responses (CT INFLOW)
• EUROMED Police
• EU4 Security Moldova
• Training and Operational Partnership against Organised Crime Project (TOPCOP)
• Western Balkans Partnership against Crime and Terrorism (WB PaCT)

How does it work?

The programme encompasses both mentoring and peer partnership cooperation.

The mentoring cooperation in policing and law enforcement context can be described as:

The process of ‘shadowing’ a mentee-officer by a mentor-officer, coming from similar background, for an extended period of time with a view to witness the application of new knowledge and skills by the mentee-officer, and assisting him / her in furthering her / his skills, promoting professional growth and, overall, enhancing the effectiveness of the law enforcement agency

The mentor acts as a partner and supports the mentee’s development goals as defined by both the partner country law enforcement agency and the mentee.

In the peer partnership cooperation, participants engage with each other on an equal, reciprocal and mutually beneficial basis without hierarchical roles. The participants are considered peers, contributing their experience, expertise and perspectives. Effective peer partnership cooperation requires peers to work towards objectives jointly defined at the outset of their collaboration.

The matching process will result in a mentor and a mentee or peers (with the same level of experience) being paired. The type of cooperation is determined during the matching process, taking into account the experiences and preferences of the applicants. After the pairing is concluded and if the parties reciprocally accept each other, they can start planning their common activities.

As a general rule, the duration of all types of cooperation under the International Cooperation Mentoring Programme shall be set at 12 months. Derogations may be granted upon a duly justified request; however, the cooperation period may not be shorter than 6 months nor exceed 15 months.

Types of the Mentoring Programme

1. Dyads: the traditional one-on-one mentoring model. It can create strong relationships between mentors and mentees.
2. Triad mentoring: it involves three persons, and it may be structured in two ways:

• one senior staff member mentoring two mentees, for example two staff who are at approximately the same level or stage in their career
• two mentors working with one mentee, which works effectively if the two mentors complement each other from a professional point of view

1. Group mentoring: one or more mentors guide and support a small group of mentees. This approach uses the combined experience of the mentor or mentors to help several people at once and builds a sense of community.
2. Peer partnership cooperation: under this category, both participating officials are referred to as peers instead of mentor and mentee, working at a similar level of experience and expertise. It represents a collaborative partnership rather than a mentoring relationship.

The determination of the most appropriate cooperation modality within the Programme is undertaken jointly by the applicant and the Programme Coordinator of the respective project.

Who can apply?

Mentoring and peer partnership cooperation will take place both between EU Member States and project partner countries, as well as among the project partner countries themselves. Mentors can be nominated from either EU Member States or project partner countries, while mentees will only be nominated from project partner countries.

Applicants must fulfil the following criteria:

Mentor:

• Have a reasonable level of English (at least level B2) enabling professional communication with CEPOL and colleagues about enforcing the law on the selected topics
• Have minimum ten years’ work experience and expertise in the defined thematic area category, except in the case of cybercrime, where at least five years of experience and expertise is essential
• Participate in the Mentoring course combined with Kick-off meeting of the Programme
• Have a commitment and willingness to cascade newly acquired knowledge both at a European or international level and at a national level

Mentee:

• Have a reasonable level of English (at least level B2) enabling professional communication with CEPOL and colleagues about enforcing the law on the selected topics
• Have minimum three years’ work experience and expertise in the defined thematic area category
• Participate in the Mentoring course combined with Kick-off meeting of the Programme
• Have a commitment and willingness to cascade newly acquired knowledge both at a European or international level and at a national level

Peer:

• Have a reasonable level of English (at least level B2) enabling professional communication with CEPOL and colleagues about enforcing the law on the selected topics
• Have minimum five years’ work experience and expertise in the defined thematic area category, except in the case of cybercrime, where at least three years of experience and expertise is essential
• Participate in the Kick-off meeting of the Programme

Detailed description of mentee, mentor and peer duties and responsibilities are described in the User Guide.

Important information:

Applicants must have prior authorisation by their hierarchy or organisation to apply for the Mentoring Programme, or they need to contact their CEPOL National Unit or National Exchange Coordinator in order to receive approval for applying. Their application can be rejected if they did not receive authorisation prior to applying.