Sindbad: Mentors Guiding Austria's Disadvantaged Youth Into Careers

Sindbad's 1:1 mentoring model connects 13-19 year-olds leaving compulsory school with mentors aged 20-35 who accompany them for 8-12 months through the tricky transition into training, apprenticeships or further education. Since starting in Graz in 2016 with 27 mentoring pairs, the program has expanded to eleven locations across Vienna, Lower Austria, Styria, Upper Austria and Tyrol. By June 2026, Sindbad had reached 8,865 young people, with 83 percent of mentoring pairs completing the program and 83 percent of participants going on to an apprenticeship or further education afterward.