At Firda, we believe mentoring is one of the most powerful ways to inspire young people. The word ‘mentor’ comes from Greek mythology, where Mentor was the trusted advisor of Odysseus – a source of wisdom, guidance, and encouragement. Today, we carry that tradition forward by connecting young women with real-life role models who help them grow, dream, and succeed.

Our experience in mentoring
Firda has developed two successful mentoring programmes for our students, which we believe provide valuable experience for the STAR Girls project:

  • Internal Mentoring Programme – Our students are matched with (former) Firda staff members. These mentors focus on personal guidance, helping students make educational and personal decisions with confidence and support.
  • External Mentoring Programme – In this programme, students are connected with professionals from the regional business community. These mentors help students explore career paths, develop professional skills, and build valuable networks in the world of work.

In both programmes, mentoring is a two-way process: students gain confidence and clarity about their future, while mentors sharpen their coaching skills and gain fresh insights from the next generation.

Our role in STAR Girls
In the STAR Girls project, Firda is proud to lead the development of the mentoring programme that will connect girls in vocational education with inspiring women in the sustainable and clean energy sector.

However, before we start designing this programme, important groundwork has to be done. All project partners are exploring why girls are underrepresented in technical and sustainable fields, what challenges they face, and what helps motivate them. We are also identifying inspiring female role models and collecting best practices from across Europe. Since the outcomes are not yet known, we cannot say for certain what the mentoring programme will look like – but these results will form the basis for everything we develop. Once these results are available, Firda will use them as the foundation to design a practical, inspiring, and context-sensitive mentoring programme, together with the project partners.

We know from 25+ years of experience how much mentoring can empower young people. Our internal and external mentoring programmes have shown us what it takes to create meaningful connections between mentors and students. We’re excited to apply this knowledge in STAR Girls – to inspire a new generation of girls to see themselves in the future of clean energy.

We’re proud to bring our expertise to this important European collaboration and look forward to working together with our partners to make a real difference.