The National Mentorship Programme (NMP) constitutes a key component of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) in partnership with the South African Humanities Deans Association (SAHUDA) and Council for the Development of Social Science Research in African (CODESRIA). The Institute launched the National Mentorship Programme to provide highquality academic mentoring to all NIHSS doctoral students through targeted capacity development interventions offering a communally based approach to doctoral support. It aims to provide highquality academic mentoring to all NIHSS-funded masters and doctoral candidates, through targeted interventions by offering a communal-based approach to doctoral support. Regional Mentors are broadly tasked with coordinating Regional Masters and Doctoral Schools mentorship and research capacity development of relevant masters and doctoral research skills and encouraging inter-institutional and interdisciplinary conversations among candidates.