Process

Self-assessment

Audit

In Progress

Obtaining the MC Seal

Self-assessment

Before beginning the process of verifying that the quality standards have been met, the programs are asked to complete the initial online self-assessment questionnaire. This will generate an automatic response to the program (compliance or non-compliance with the requirements) and an initial report with recommendations.

To obtain this initial report, the program must contact the Coordinadora de Mentoria Social (calidad@mentoriasocial.org), which will provide it within 5 days.

The report that the Coordinadora de Mentoria Social sends to the project will specify in detail the reasons why one or more standards have not been met. The report also provides recommendations on:

Whether incorporating small changes into the project would enable the audit to be successfully carried out and passed, or whether it would be better to complete another cycle of the project to make improvements since they are of greater scope. In this case, carrying out the audit is not yet recommended as a negative outcome is anticipated.
Depending on the number of improvements and their complexity, either the MC or MC+ Seal will be recommended. With a little extra effort, it may be worth opting for the MC+ Seal from the start.

A 15-minute call can be scheduled with programs to address any questions about the report.

If the program decides to go ahead with the process of obtaining the Seal, the Coordinadora de Mentoria Social should be contacted so they can inform the project of the next steps to follow.

Evaluate your project

Audit

Once the program has decided to go ahead with the audit following the initial self-assessment process, payment is required. The 2019 prices to obtain either the MC or MC+ Seal are:

Projects from partner organizations: € 500

Projects from member organizations: € 700

Projects from other organizations:  € 1200

Once payment has been made, the Coordinadora de Mentoria Social will send instructions and a list of documents required for the auditor’s visit. The purpose of the auditor’s visit is to determine whether the project meets the requirements in practice and if there is documentary evidence to support this.

There will be a minimum of two meetings with the auditor, with the following steps:

1st meeting:

Review of the requested documentation. Prior to this meeting, the organization must gather documents to resolve any possible queries and facilitate the review of this documentation by making it available to the auditor during the audit. The review of the documentation will last approximately 1 hour.
Interview with the program coordinator (2 hours).
Calls to mentors and mentees to arrange interviews with the auditor.

2nd meeting:  

Interviews with 3 mentors, lasting 10-15 minutes each.
Interviews with 3 mentees, lasting 10-15 minutes each.

These interviews can be done on different days or via Skype if agreed with the auditor.

Once the meetings for the document review and the interviews are complete, the auditor will send the organization a pre-assessment report within 5 days. In this pre-assessment report, the auditor will indicate the issues identified and whether or not they are considered rectifiable, depending on their severity and number.

In Progress

A period of 6 months will be established for the program to rectify the issues identified in the pre-assessment report. To verify that the improvements have been implemented, the organization must sign a certificate of commitment and, if possible, include documents that demonstrate their incorporation.

The pre-assessment report, together with the certificate of commitment to incorporate improvements, the documentation accrediting them, and the initial report (resulting from the self-assessment questionnaire) are sent to the accreditation committee so that they can validate the program’s suitability to obtain the MC or MC+ Seal, or not.

The accreditation committee meets to assess projects twice a year and it may therefore take up to 6 months for the project to receive the final report issued by the committee. The final report determines whether or not the program has obtained the MC or MC+ Seal.

Obtaining the MC Seal

In the event that the final report issued by the committee is positive, the organization that owns the certified program will receive:

The final report, which includes:
- A brief description of the organization
- A description of the mentoring program
- The process timeline (dates for the initial questionnaire, the audit visit, the change accreditation, and the end of the process)
- Strengths of the program (requirements validated during the audit)
- Weak points (requirements not validated in the audit but which have been subsequently rectified) and how they have been rectified.
- Future recommendations (requirements that, although not necessary to obtain the Seal chosen, could be improved in the future).

A certificate.
Downloadable Seal image in .png format.
A sample press release announcing that the program has obtained the Seal.