Program Guidelines
Structured Support for Professional Growth.
KDA Mentorship Programme
Programme Guidelines
A complete reference for mentors, mentees, and prospective applicants — covering registration, matching, goals, sessions, reviews, evaluations, and certificates.
1. Programme Overview
The KDA Mentorship Programme is a structured, digital-first professional development programme for Kenya Dental Association members. It connects experienced dental professionals (Mentors) with early-career practitioners (Mentees) in a tracked, goal-driven engagement managed through the KDA Members Portal.
A member may register as a mentor, a mentee, or both simultaneously — each role is managed through a separate dashboard card on the Mentorship Hub landing page.
2. Registration
Both mentors and mentees register through a 6-step wizard accessible from the Mentorship Hub page in the portal sidebar. Each step saves independently. The steps are identical in structure for both roles but capture different perspectives (expertise to offer vs. learning to seek).
Registration is exclusive to KDA members in good standing. Confirm your membership status at kda.or.ke/kda-membership/ before registering.
3. The Auto-Matching Algorithm
Matching is triggered by the mentee clicking Request a Mentor on their Mentee Hub. The system scores every mentor registered in the same association who has Available for Mentorship = Yes using five weighted criteria. The mentor with the highest total score is assigned automatically.
| Criterion | Weight | How It Is Calculated |
|---|---|---|
| Availability & City | Highest | Overlapping day + time window + same city. A mentor must share at least one available slot in the same city to score here. |
| Specialty Match | High | Points added for each dental specialty shared between mentor and mentee profiles. |
| Professional Interests | Medium | Points added for each shared professional interest area (e.g. Research, Clinical Skills, Business, Ethics). |
| Certifications | Low-Medium | Bonus points for any shared post-graduate qualifications or specialist certifications. |
| Languages Spoken | Low | A communication-compatibility bonus is added if mentor and mentee share at least one language. |
Tip: The more data a member adds to their profile (more availability slots, multiple specialties, languages), the higher the probability of a strong, high-scoring match. If no mentor is found on first request, the KDA Secretariat can arrange a manual match.
4. SMART Goals (Mentee)
Once matched, mentees set one or more SMART goals from their Mentee Hub. Goals provide the learning framework for the entire programme — sessions and reviews should directly relate to active goals.
5. Sessions
Sessions are individual meetings between mentor and mentee. Both mentors and mentees can create sessions. The Schedule New Session form appears at the top of the Sessions section on both hubs — fill in the date, time, and agenda and click Create Session. The new session card appears immediately inline without reloading the page. Sessions appear as numbered cards (# 1, # 2 …) on both dashboards.
| Action | Who | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Create a session (date, time, agenda) | Both | Mentor Hub or Mentee Hub → match card → Sessions section (form at top) |
| Add personal session notes | Mentee | Mentee Hub → match card → session card |
| Add mentor notes, feedback, action items | Mentor | Mentor Hub → mentee card → session card (3 separate save buttons) |
| Mark session as Completed | Mentor only | Mentor Hub → session card → Status dropdown |
| Delete a session | Mentor (Pending sessions only) | Mentor Hub → session card → Remove button |
Mentor notes, feedback, and action items are visible to both parties once saved. Mentors should add their feedback promptly after each session so mentees can review it before the next meeting.
6. Session Reviews
Both mentors and mentees can write a structured review for each session. Reviews are nested inside the session card behind a Session Reviews toggle (collapsed by default to keep the dashboard clean). Each party writes their own review independently.
Best practice: Reviews should be written within 48 hours of a session while the experience is fresh. Good reviews are specific — cite exact procedures, case types, or decisions rather than general impressions.
7. Evaluations
Evaluations can be created at any point in the programme cycle by either party — the New Evaluation form appears at the top of the Evaluations section on both hubs. A match can have multiple evaluations across its duration. Both parties fill in their respective sections. Only the mentor can mark an evaluation as Completed, which triggers the Completion Certificate for both parties.
A match can have multiple evaluations — one per mentorship cycle or programme review period. Each evaluation is numbered and displayed in sequence. The Completion Certificate is generated when the mentor marks any evaluation as Completed.
- Q1 — Overall rating of the mentorship experience
- Q2 — Specific skills or knowledge acquired
- Q3 — Quality of guidance and support received
- Q4 — Adequacy of session frequency
- Q5 — Suggestions for improving the programme
- Q1 — Overall satisfaction with the engagement
- Q2 — Most significant mentee milestones observed
- Q3 — Effectiveness of the programme structure
- Q4 — Suggestions for future programme cycles
- Q5 — Personal learning from serving as a mentor
8. Certificates
All certificates are generated as PDF files with unique QR codes. They are available from within the portal — no application or request is needed; certificates appear automatically when the qualifying condition is met.
Where to find it: Mentorship Hub landing page → profile card → Download Certificate button.
When: Generated immediately when the registration wizard is completed.
Where to find it: Mentee Hub → goal card → appears when status is set to Completed.
When: Unlocked automatically when a mentee changes a goal's status to Completed.
Where to find it: Mentor Hub / Mentee Hub → match card → Evaluations section → inside completed eval card.
When: Unlocked when the mentor saves an evaluation with Mark as Complete & Close Programme checked.