A young person describes an ambition. Before they finish, an adult supplies the sensible version: a safer choice, a more familiar route, a plan that resembles the adult’s own experience.
The advice may come from love. It can still leave an important question unasked: what does the young person actually want to change?
A recent education award offers a useful starting point for that conversation. On 9 October 2026, UNESCO recognised Morocco’s Project Soar in a Bag as one of two winners of its Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education. UNESCO’s announcement, updated on 16 October, describes trained local women facilitating a programme that includes voice, rights and future planning. It also describes clubs where girls develop responses to community challenges, alongside dialogue involving families and educators.
Those are features of the programme as reported by UNESCO. The reflection that follows is Evolv’s interpretation: developing leadership should include opportunities to make decisions, rather than only opportunities to receive instructions.
Confidence needs somewhere to go
“Be confident” can sound encouraging while remaining difficult to act on.
Confident about what? Speaking to whom? With permission to influence which decision?
Imagine a hypothetical youth group invited to suggest improvements to a community space. The organisers ask for ideas, praise the enthusiasm, and then choose everything themselves. Participants have practised presenting, but they have learned little about what happens when their judgement carries responsibility.
A different approach would identify a real decision the group can make. Perhaps they can choose the format of an activity within an agreed budget. The adults explain the limits, help the group consider consequences, and honour the decision once made.
There is still guidance. There is also something meaningful to guide.
This example is illustrative; it is not a description of a Project Soar session.
Ask for the problem before the plan
Here is a small mentoring exercise to try.
Before offering a solution, ask: “What is something around you that you wish worked better?”
Listen for the person’s own description. They may notice a confusing process, an exclusion others have overlooked, or an opportunity that adults have dismissed as too small.
Then ask what they have already tried and what they would like to understand next. The first answer may be incomplete. Give it room to develop before replacing it with your preferred answer.
The purpose is not to pretend every suggestion is ready to implement. It is to discover where their attention and motivation already live.
This is an editorial exercise, not a research-tested method or a claim about how the award-winning programme operates.
Make the limits honest
Adults cannot always hand over a decision. Money, safeguarding, organisational rules and responsibilities can constrain what is possible.
Say so early.
A clear boundary can support agency: “You can choose the activity; I am responsible for checking the venue.” A vague invitation can undermine it: “Anything is possible,” followed by a series of unexplained refusals.
Ask the young person to explain the trade-offs they see. Offer information they need. If a proposal cannot proceed, explain the reason and identify which parts remain theirs to shape.
That makes the conversation about judgement rather than guessing what answer will please the adult.
Review the decision without taking it back
Once a small project ends, resist making the review a verdict on the person’s potential.
Ask what surprised them. Which assumption held up? What would they change? What support was missing?
Share your observations with the same care you would want from someone reviewing your work. A disappointing result can reveal a useful adjustment without becoming a permanent label.
Equally, a successful result should leave room to recognise the young person’s judgement and effort. Adults do not need to become the main characters in every achievement they support.
A different measure of mentoring
An invitation to speak is valuable. An opportunity to influence something can take the learning further.
The UNESCO recognition brings attention to a programme that makes girls’ voices and futures part of its work. For readers, the practical challenge is closer to home: identify one conversation where you usually offer the answer first.
Next time, pause long enough to hear the problem as the other person sees it.
Then find one appropriate decision they can genuinely own.
What could someone discover about their own abilities if your next piece of advice began with a question?
Editorial note: Prepared with AI assistance using the primary source below. No interviews or field reporting. Hypothetical examples and mentoring suggestions are editorial proposals. Recognition is not presented as independent proof of causal impact.
Source: UNESCO: 2026 Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education — published 9 October 2026; updated 16 October 2026.
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