The project aims to identify the children's needs, encourage their active education and participation, and collaborate with other stakeholders working to support children, including policymakers.

The Mentoring Project also helps to quickly create a relationship of trust, as both the mentors and the mentees share the experience of being unaccompanied minors in Greece.

The project first launched in the summer of 2021. This is the first initiative in Greece to allow former unaccompanied children to work for the Ministry of Migration and Asylum in support of children’s welfare and protection.

The mentors, who fully relate to the situation of the children, can quickly offer a safe space and authentic guidance and support. They reach through to the unaccompanied children through activities such as:

• field visits to the accommodations centres where unaccompanied minors live
• outdoor activities
• online tools
• focused group discussions
• school visits, targeted information sessions and awareness-raising sessions,
• guided tours
• sports activities
• art workshops
• well-being and mental health interventions

As part of these activities, the mentors visit public schools and take part in different events that help create links between the refugee children and local youth in Greece. An example of a regular activity is the Teens' Network which aims to encourage the participation of unaccompanied children in Greece. The network meets online each month for different thematic discussions. In their peer-to-peer work, the mentors also help unaccompanied minors transition to adulthood.

Most recently, the EUAA which supports the project has created a YouTube series as an additional tool for the mentors to use. The videos present the Mentoring Project and deal with important issues such as guardianship, access to public services, learning the Greek language, maintaining personal hygiene and budget planning. The videos are in Greek, with subtitles available in English, French, Farsi, Arabic, Urdu, and Pashto. The first video introduces the 6 mentors:

Since the start of the project in July 2021, more than 1 385 unaccompanied children have benefitted from peer-to-peer support. In 2023 alone, over 68 activities and 46 on-site visits to accommodation centres for children took place.

The children have been able to establish a trusting relationship with the mentors and the rest of the children in similar situations. A safe space has been created where minors have been able to share their concerns and express their anxieties about the future.

Unaccompanied children, as well as their local peers and society at large.

The project benefits from essential support provided by the EUAA, including in terms of funding, staff recruitment, coordination, and capacity building through training.