The MPS Mentorship Programme is a six-month transformative journey designed to support and empower emerging leaders from under-represented and marginalised communities who are committed to advancing peace, security, and social change.

For too long, the voices and expertise of minorities, including immigrants, people of colour, refugees and asylum seekers, LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, women, and gender minorities, have been disregarded and/or excluded from decision-making in peace and security spaces. This leads to fragile, unsustainable peace agreements and perpetuates the root causes of conflict - ending up with security frameworks that are narrow, ineffective and prone to failure.  This comes with the recognition that structures of power need to be reoriented to include diverse voices and incorporate the people who are most impacted in decision-making roles.

MPS’ mission seeks to change this by creating a space of solidarity for minorities and allies working across the fields of peace and security, pushing for professional equality and representation, and championing intersectional approaches to the huge policy challenges we face today. In 2024, MPS published a chapter in Feminist Policymaking in Turbulent Time, documenting what we all know: many of us are not able to enter these fields successfully, or don't survive long enough to make it to a place of influence. And when we do, our cup is so empty that giving back and helping the next generation seems like a pipe dream.  

Our mentoring programme seeks to address these imbalances in leadership by nurturing talent, building confidence, and helping to expand pathways for meaningful impact. As a pilot programme, this set of mentors and mentees would be integral to forging new ways of providing context-specific support and help shape MPS’s mentorship programme for the years ahead.Conceptualised as a mutual development experience, the programme brings together 20 mentors and mentees in thoughtfully matched partnerships, benefiting both parties involved. Through shared guidance, insight, and sustained support, participants deepen their understanding of the peace and security fields while developing their professional, leadership, or advocacy trajectories.