Enabling peer learning at scale through a national mentoring programme
The context
The Nature Towns and Cities programme is a UK-wide initiative, led by partners including the National Trust, Natural England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Its ambition is to help towns and cities become greener, healthier and more connected to nature.
The programme focuses on increasing access to green and blue space, supporting nature recovery in urban areas, and improving health and wellbeing through stronger connections between people and the natural environment. Alongside this, it contributes to longer-term climate resilience by helping places adapt to challenges such as heat, flooding and biodiversity loss.
Our work was commissioned by the National Trust as part of this wider programme, with a specific focus on strengthening peer learning and support across the network.
Our approach
We designed and delivered a structured mentoring programme that enabled existing grantees to support the next cohort coming into the programme.
Rather than relying on informal connections, the aim was to create a mentoring experience that was intentional, well-supported and genuinely useful for everyone involved.
The work began with two in person training days for existing grantees, equipping them to step into the mentor role with confidence. These sessions focused on what effective mentoring looks like in practice, how to support others without overstepping, and how to make the most of the opportunity for both mentor and mentee.
From there, we developed the full mentoring framework, including:
designing the overall mentoring process
developing a structured matching approach between mentors and mentees
delivering onboarding sessions to set expectations and support both groups
creating three additional training sessions to deepen learning across the programme
managing and supporting matched pairs throughout
The design balanced structure with flexibility, ensuring consistency across the programme while allowing relationships to develop in a way that felt natural and relevant.
The Impact
The mentoring programme created a strong bridge between cohorts, enabling knowledge, confidence and experience to flow across the network.
New grantees benefited from support that was grounded in real understanding of the programme, helping them navigate the early stages more effectively and feel less isolated in their work. Existing grantees were able to contribute in a meaningful new way, reinforcing their own learning while supporting others.
This mattered because the Nature Towns and Cities programme is not just about funding projects, it is about building the capability, confidence and collaboration needed to create greener, healthier places where people and nature can thrive. This mentoring programme played a key role in embedding peer support into the heart of the network and ensuring that learning is shared, not siloed.
Looking to do something similar?
If you are looking to create something similar, whether that is a mentoring programme, a leadership offer, or a way of strengthening connection across a network, this is exactly the kind of work we do. We design and deliver programmes that are grounded in real experience, carefully structured, and genuinely useful for the people taking part. If you would like to explore what this could look like in your context, we would be very happy to have a conversation.