The state program “Education and youth policy” for 2021-2025 was approved by the Council of Ministers Decree № 57 of January 29, 2021. It includes 11 subprograms, which deal with pre-school, general secondary, special, vocational and secondary special, higher education. There are subprograms dedicated to science-oriented education, additional education for adults, children and youth, personnel training for nuclear power, youth policy, ensuring the functioning of the education system.
The main result of implementation of the State program “Education and youth policy” for 2021-2025 will be improving the effectiveness of sustainable and generally accessible quality educational environment. The basic principles in the education system remain unchanged: state-public character of management, social justice, equal access to education, improvement of its quality. This correlates with Sustainable Development Goal 4 “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
Belarus has achieved a high indicator of average years of schooling and one of the highest indicators of school life expectancy among the 28 countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Preschool enrollment is 83.6%. More information on the national indicators of SDG 4 targets can be found on the National Platform for reporting on the SDG indicators.
Photo: edu.gov.by
The contest “Promoting life safety culture in achieving Sustainable Development Goals” is held by the Civil Defense University of the Ministry of Emergency Situations within the framework of the National Strategy for Sustainable Socio-Economic Development of Belarus until 2030, the National Strategy to reduce the risk of emergency situations in Belarus for 2019-2030, the State Program “Education and Youth Policy” for 2021-2025. The purpose of the contest is to draw the attention of young people to the Sustainable Development Goals and motivate them to take active action to achieve them. To participate in the contest, one has to write an essay, make a video or prepare a poster presentation. The topics of the nominations are demographic security and healthy lifestyle, environmental protection, safety and resilience of modern cities, energy security of the country. The winners will be announced on March 31. The contest regulations are available on the website of the Civil Defense University of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The International Forum “Smart Sustainable Cities: Organizational and Technical Aspects of Development” will take place in Minsk on March 16-18, 2021. Experts will present practical experience and ways to build a smart sustainable city, economic and technical aspects of smart city development, ways to assess the smart sustainable cities effectiveness.
A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information technology and other means to improve living standards, efficiency and competitiveness. Such a city meets the needs of present and future generations in economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects. Creating such cities is a prerequisite for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11 “Sustainable Cities”.
The program and objectives of the Forum can be found on the website of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus.
The main provisions of the Program of Socio-Economic Development of the Republic of Belarus for 2021-2025 were approved by the VI All-Belarusian People’s Assembly. The important tasks for the next five years are regional development, creating high-tech industries and developing the infrastructure for investment. Solving these tasks will make a significant contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Belarus.
The main objective of regional development is to maximize the potential of each region and reduce the gap in living standards and quality of life. For this purpose, measures to stimulate the development of territories depending on their specialization, competence and their potential, as well as measures to attract investment, are being developed.
In order to develop the investment infrastructure, the National Infrastructure Plan of Belarus is currently being elaborated. This is an innovation in the regional development, it collects and analyzes the need for infrastructure. The Plan will be posted on the website of the National Agency of Investment and Privatization to search for investors.
A special emphasis in the Program is made on creation and development of five new high-tech industries: electrical industry, biotechnologies, pharmaceutics, robotics and production of composite materials. More detailed information can be found at sb.by
On February 22, 2021, the meeting of the National Coordinator on the achievement of the SDGs A.M. Isachanka and the UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus A.E. Solovyova was held.
The parties discussed the interaction in the course of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Belarus, the priority of the “green” economy, as well as the potential for cooperation in implementing the SDGs in the regions, including those affected by the Chernobyl NPP accident.
Unlocking the potential of districts is one of the state policy priorities . Supporting entrepreneurial initiatives and developing new business models will help sustain economic growth, create jobs and improve the quality of life in the regions, which contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth”, 9 “Industrialization, Innovation and Infrastructure”, 10 “Reducing Inequality”.
A contest of entrepreneurial initiatives is being held to unlock the potential of the regions. The competition will be held under the project “Support of Local Economic Development in the Republic of Belarus” funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Program in partnership with the Ministry of Economy of Belarus in 12 pilot districts of the project: — Brest region: Beryoza and Kobrin districts; — Vitebsk region: Braslav and Orsha districts; — Gomel region: Bragin, Zhlobin and Khoiniki districts; — Grodno region: Lida district; — Minsk region: Borisov and Molodechno districts; — Mogilev region: Bykhov and Klichev districts.
The following entities may take part in the contest:
To apply for the contest one should go to prospring.by. Applications are accepted from February 15, 2021 to March 30, 2021. The first 240 participants will be able to receive individual remote expert consultations in order to analyze and present their business idea better.
The winners will receive support in the form of goods or services necessary to implement the entrepreneurial initiative.
Belarus ranks high in key international health rankings. Over the past five years, life expectancy in the country has increased, new healthcare facilities and modern equipment have appeared.
According to the Bloomberg ranking of the effectiveness of national health systems, the Republic of Belarus ranks 49th. Belarus occupies the 25th position in the rating of countries comfortable for motherhood and is among the top 50 countries in pregnancy and childbirth management. Life expectancy in Belarus is 74.5 years, the difference between life expectancy of men and women has decreased. Belarus comes second among CIS countries with the life expectancy indicator, which should reach at least 76.4 years in 2025. Thanks to the introduction of modern perinatal technologies, infant mortality is at a consistently low level (2.4-2.7 per 1,000 births). The country also has one of the lowest under-five mortality rates in the world (3 per 1,000). In this respect Belarus is in fourth place in the world.
Strengthening of public health remains a priority task of the state program “Health of the Nation and Demographic Security” for the next 5 years. In 2021-2025 the creation of inter-district centers, the development of e-health, the introduction of new technologies in the regions will be continued. It is also planned to build and reconstruct 44 health care facilities. You can read more about the development of healthcare in the interview of Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Igor Petrishenko.
Information on reporting on SDG 3 indicators “Ensure healthy lifestyles and promote well-being for all at all ages” can be found on the National Platform for reporting on SDG indicators.
In Belarus, 53 cities have joined the “Covenant of Mayors on Climate and Energy” initiative, involving local authorities in ensuring energy and environmental sustainability. According to the Covenant, local governments commit themselves to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 30% by 2030. Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans are being developed to implement the commitments made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The GEF-UNDP-Ministry of Environment Green Cities project has prepared a methodological guidebook for developing a sustainable energy and climate action plan. The manual allows to automate the calculation of necessary indicators, estimate required capital expenditures in infrastructure and identify priority projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. You can download the guide and read more about the Green Cities Project.
Developing Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans is an important contribution to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 7 “Affordable and Clean Energy”, 11 “Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements”, 13 “Combating Climate Change”.
The participants of the VI All-Belarusian People’s Assembly discussed for two days the main directions of socio-economic and socio-political development of the country. Most of the socio-economic proposals were included in the main provisions of the draft Program of Socio-Economic Development of the Republic of Belarus for 2021-2025. Taking into account the speeches of the meeting participants and the proposals received, the editorial committee finalized the draft resolution of the Sixth National Assembly.
The resolution approves the main provisions of the Program of socio-economic development of the Republic of Belarus for 2021-2025 and supports its main goal: ensuring social stability and citizens’ welfare growth through modernizing economy, building social capital, creating comfortable conditions for life, work and self-realization of people.
Implementation of the priorities for the next five years will be carried out in the main directions: improving the quality of life by strengthening family policy and improving the health of the nation; accelerated and balanced regional development by creating new industries, comfortable living environment, extensive transportation and social infrastructure outside the capital and regional centers; strengthening industry through the modernization of traditional industries, the formation of new high-tech industries.
Among the key areas are the introduction of effective technologies and digitalization, the expansion of domestic and inbound tourism, improving the quality and availability of social services; digital transformation through the integration of information and communication and advanced production technologies in all spheres of life, improving digital literacy of the population. The key economic factors will be the effective distribution of resources, management system improvement, equal development of organizations of all forms of ownership.
The priorities approved at the VI All-Belarusian People’s Assembly are an important contribution of the Republic of Belarus to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
You can read more about the resolution at vsebel.by.
Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus Decree No. 53 of January 29, 2021 approved the State Program “Culture of Belarus” for 2021-2025.
The state program includes five subprograms: “Cultural Heritage”, “Art and Creativity”, “Functioning and Infrastructure of the Cultural Sphere”, “Belarusians in the World” and “Archives of Belarus”. Their objectives are cultural heritage preservation, cultural institutions access, professional creativity development, cultural infrastructure improvement, partnership development. You can read more about the subprogrammes and activities within the framework of the State Programme on the National Legal Portal.
Information about the implementation of the State program “Culture of Belarus” for 2016 — 2020 can be found in the presentation of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus.
Preservation of cultural heritage is target 11.4 of Sustainable Development Goal 11. Information about the progress in achieving the indicators related to this target — “Total amount of expenditures per capita for the preservation and protection of all cultural and natural heritage” and “The share of budget expenditures for the development of culture”, “Number of heritage sites of the Republic of Belarus recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site”, can be found on the National Platform for reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals indicators.
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