On 31 October 2019, a seminar on working with the National Reporting Platform on Sustainable Development Goals indicators was held in Minsk. The seminar was organized by the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus to train representatives of national governmental and other organizations in working with the National Reporting Platform on Sustainable Development Goals indicators.
The seminar was opened by Elena Kuharevich, Deputy Chairwoman of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus. Information on the Roadmap for the Development of Statistics on Sustainable Development Goals and the National Platform for Reporting on Sustainable Development Goals Indicators was presented by Irina Aleksandrovna Mazayskaya, Head of the Department of International Cooperation and Statistical Information Dissemination of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus.
The seminar was held within the framework of the UNDP/UNICEF/UNFPA project “Supporting the functioning of the governance architecture for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the Republic of Belarus”.
The National Reporting Platform on Sustainable Development Goal indicators is available here.
The Roadmap of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus for the Development of Statistics on the Sustainable Development Goals is available here.
October 30, a round table “A new paradigm of sustainable demographic development” was held in Minsk. The purpose of the round table was to work out and discuss the key elements of the position of the Republic of Belarus at the High-Level Summit on Facilitating the Acceleration of the Programme of Action at the International Conference on Population and Development, which will be held in Nairobi, Republic of Kenya, on 12-14 November 2019.
The round table was attended by Marianna Shchetkina, Deputy Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, National Coordinator for Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, Chairperson of the Public Association “Belarusian Union of Women”, Joanna Kazana-Wisniowecki, UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Belarus, Alexandra Solovieva, UNDP Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Belarus, Olga Atroshchenko, UNFPA Deputy Representative in the Republic of Belarus, Valery Kovalkov, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Development of the Republic of Belarus.
Marianna Shchetkina noted in her speech that the main goal of sustainable development is a long active life and high standards of well-being of citizens, and the main components of its achievements are sustainable demographic reproduction, productive employment and decent income of the population, quality health care, and a developed education system that fully meets the sustainable development of the country. “Demographic issues are issues of the future of our country, our statehood and our national identity”, she stressed.
One of the main priorities of the demographic policy is to increase the birth rate with a focus on creating additional incentives for the birth of second and subsequent children.
“Special attention should be paid not only to the issues of further improving the forms of material support for families with children, but also to the development of tools to enable parents to combine professional activities and family responsibilities, as well as a set of measures to enhance the role of fathers in the process of upbringing of children, addressing domestic and other family issues”, the National Coordinator said.
It is necessary to ensure a long and healthy life, to develop a set of measures to promote the active longevity of older persons, their social and economic integration into society. “The strategic goal in the field of demographic policy is to maintain the population at the level of 9.4-9.5 million people. In order to achieve this goal, the Concept of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development until 2035 provides for the solution of a number of tasks in the sphere of economy, ecology and social policy”, summed up Marianna Shchetkina.
Gender aspects of demography “are a cross-cutting theme of the Sustainable Development Goals. The principle of Agenda 2030 “Interrelation and indivisibility” does not allow us to focus only on Goal 5 (Gender Equality), but requires the introduction of a gender perspective in all areas of sustainable development. That is why the gender-equal society is one of the four platforms to accelerate the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals in our country”, said the UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Belarus, Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecki.
The need to integrate gender equality issues into various national programmes and policies is reflected in both the fifth National Plan on Gender Equality until 2020 and the outcome document of the First Sustainable Development Forum.
Gender mainstreaming (through integration) involves the introduction of gender expertise in legislative acts, as well as the use of gender-responsive budgets. Gender-responsive budget is not a budget that is divided in half between men and women, but one that allows for the most complete consideration of their interests and needs and protection of their rights. For example, whether the distribution of resources for the realization of women’s and men’s reproductive rights, especially those with disabilities, is equitable, taking into account different patterns of behaviour and self-preservation skills.
These two priorities (gender expertise and gender budgeting) were reflected in the National Review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which Belarus submitted to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in May this year.
Integrating a gender perspective into the 2030 Agenda also requires expanding the circle of familiar actors who can make a significant contribution to the achievement of de facto equality between men and women.
For example, the private sector has already been active and socially responsible in partnering with UN/UNFPA to improve access to reproductive health services for women with disabilities. Belarusian companies are also beginning to implement successful international practices that help workers with parental responsibilities to reconcile family and professional responsibilities. In order to reduce the time that men and women, especially those with children under the age of 10, spend on household chores more than twice as much, it is important to recognize the value of women’s unpaid domestic work and to increase men’s contribution to childcare and education.
Men’s sharing of household responsibilities is not only important for equality of partners in the family. This plays an important role in strengthening the emotional bond between fathers and children and in improving the quality of life of men. The invisible and undervalued contribution of women to the household economy increases the well-being of all family members. Therefore, the resources that the state invests in the development of preschool infrastructure and services should not be seen as expenses, but as investments.
In the context of the challenges of ageing, it is also important not to exclude older women and men from reproductive health programmes and services. The United Nations also welcomes and supports the proposals of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to improve legislation to prevent domestic violence. This was discussed at the National Consultations on the priorities of the UN-Belarus Cooperation Framework until 2025.
The first session was devoted to the key components of sustainable demographic development in the Republic of Belarus.
Victoria Yuodeshko, Head of the Demography and Gender Studies Department at the Research Institute of Labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus, presented the results of the study on gender and generational aspects of the distribution of roles in the family. According to these results, the majority of respondents recognize the work and family as equally important for men and women, as well as consider the equal distribution of roles in the household important. Nevertheless, in reality, the conservative distribution of roles prevails: two-thirds of household responsibilities fall on women. In the discussion, the round table participants noted that this is related to the resilience of stereotypes about the roles of men and women, which continue to be supported in advertising and the media.
Olga Lukashkova, Gender Equality Project Coordinator at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), made a presentation “Family and work balance: is it real in today’s world?” She noted that one of the solutions to achieve this balance can be the creation and promotion of jobs that are friendly to parents – both men and women. It is also important to change the attitude of employees towards the contribution made by working parents – parenthood should be presented as a value, not a burden.
Already today, Belarusian companies are beginning to implement successful international practices that help employees with parental responsibilities to combine family and professional responsibilities, offer employees assistance in combining work and family. MTS shared its experience and told what management solutions and tools they use to balance work and family. These included three additional paid days of vacation for the father in the event of the birth of a child, a floating start and end time of the working day, corporate medical insurance for employees and their families.
Philip Bikanov, Project Manager of LLC “CSBT SATIO”, presented the results of the research on the attitude of the population towards elderly people and the perception of old age. The survey showed that Belarusians still have a high level of ageism: elderly people are often perceived as boring, they do not want to be with them together, their social significance is denied. Even people with a high level of education and qualification have such an attitude. Belarusians also perceive old age less well in comparison with people in other countries according to the data of international researches. Nevertheless, people in general are ready to help elderly people and communicate with them. Ageism harms the society as a whole, that is why it is necessary to change the communication strategy from the message “an elderly person needs help” to broadcasting the image of an elderly person as interesting, active and in demand.
Valery Kovalkov, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus, summed up the results of the session, telling about the perspective directions of the state demographic policy development. He stressed the link between the demographic policy and the economic and social processes, noting the importance of strengthening intergenerational ties, active longevity and the equal contribution of parents to the upbringing of children.
The second session of the round table was devoted to women’s health and well-being.
Lyudmila Legkaya, Head of the Department of Medical Assistance to Mothers and Children of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, in her presentation “Health of every woman is one of the most important directions of the state policy in the field of health care” presented the indicators of the health care service in the 1990s and the modern ones. For example, the maternal mortality rate fell from 29.1 per 100,000 live births to 2.8 in 2008. The frequency of abortions and teenage pregnancies has decreased, so it is important to work with children and adolescents, educate them and provide them with professional knowledge. In the area of health care, clinical protocols for medical care in the area of obstetrics and gynaecology have also been adapted to international standards, medical limitations for persons with disabilities have been reduced, and more attention is planned in the future to male health, in particular the problem of male infertility.
Svetlana Nagibovich, Deputy Director of RRC “Mother and Child”, Venera Semenchuk, Head of Reproductive Health Department of RRC “Mother and Child” presented the achievements of health care in the field of women’s health care, technology of modern obstetrics, perinatal technologies that make this process safe.
One of the new approaches in Belarus’ demographic policy is to change the position of the employer in relation to the employee-parent, i.e. to create parent-friendly jobs. Already today, Belarusian companies are beginning to implement successful international practices that help employees with parental responsibilities to combine family and professional responsibilities, offer employees assistance in combining work and family. MTS shared its experience and told what management solutions and tools they use to balance work and family. These included three additional paid days of vacation for the father in the event of the birth of a child, a floating start and end time of the working day, corporate medical insurance for employees and their families.
Yevgeny Shevko, Chairman of the Republican Association of Wheelchair Handicapped Persons, pointed out the importance of promoting equal rights in the reproductive sphere in the report “Access of women with disabilities to reproductive health services”. The problem is still the barrier-free environment, as there is no access to gynecological offices and equipment, so women with disabilities can not always visit the gynecologist.
Ludmila Zhilevich, Head of the Republican Gerontological Center (Active Longevity) made a presentation “Women’s Health as a Condition for Active Longevity (Menopause)”. The women’s life expectancy is now 10 years longer than that of men, who have a higher mortality rate from noncommunicable diseases. However, these risk factors, which are manageable, are an opportunity to improve the situation. Self-assessment of health, education and proper management by a doctor are important not only for reproductive health, but also for active older age.
The key positions of the round table will be presented at the High-level Summit on Accelerating the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, to be held in a few days in Nairobi, Kenya. The Summit will reaffirm the international commitments made by 179 countries 25 years ago to empower women and girls, as well as families, communities and nations. The Nairobi meeting will be organized with an integrated approach in 5 thematic areas that are the focus not only of the international community, but also of the Republic of Belarus. At the same time, they are reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals. These include: universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, responding to demographic challenges and their impact on sustainable development, combating violence against women and girls, and allocating resources to ensure progress.
The round table was held with the support of the UNDP/UNICEF/UNFPA project “Supporting the functioning of the management architecture for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the Republic of Belarus”, of which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus is the national executive agency.
Yevgeny Shevko, Chairman of the Republican Association of Wheelchair Handicapped Persons, pointed out the importance of promoting equal rights in the reproductive sphere in the report “Access of women with disabilities to reproductive health services“. The problem is still the barrier-free environment, as there is no access to gynecological offices and equipment, so women with disabilities can not always visit the gynecologist.
The press conference “National experience of Belarus in achieving Sustainable Development Goals in the field of employment and labour motivation” was held on 29 October 2019 at the Press Centre of the Press House. The event was attended by: Alyona Dokukina – Deputy Head of the Department of Employment Policy of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus; Tatyana Kudevich – Deputy Chairwoman of the Committee, Head of the Department of Employment of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Social Protection of Minsk City Executive Committee; Natalia Ignatovich – Deputy Chairwoman of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Minsk City Executive Committee; Dmitry Shevchuk – Head of the Main Department of Social Partnernership and Labour, Labour Union Federation of Belarus; Aleksej Chistodarskij – Head of UNDP PR and Information Department.
In her speech Alyona Dokukina, Deputy Head of the Department of Employment Policy of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus, stressed the information that during the past period of the current year more than 140 thousand people applied to the employment service, and more than 100 thousand of them received assistance in finding employment. The situation on the labour market is stable, and the total number of people employed in the economy remains almost unchanged. According to the latest data, for the first 9 months of this year the growth rate of the number of employed in the economy was 99.8%. The unemployment rate has decreased: in August 2019 it was 3.9%, while last year it was 4.8%.
“An important aspect of the work of the employment service is the speedy return of the unemployed to the labour market. The average period of search for a job this year was 7 months, last year – 8”, – said the speaker. According to her, the number of vacancies and the demand for labor are growing in the country.
Throughout the year, more than 80 thousand vacancies are available at the national bank, among which working professions dominate. As practice shows, citizens are actively looking for a job on their own, including looking for a suitable place in the database: more than 12 million visits in 9 months. The unemployed can take training in more than 100 professions, 10% of which are integrated. “We focus on training the unemployed for a specific employer. This ensures that they are fully employed. For 9 months more than 4 thousand people were sent for training. This is 5% of all those in need of employment,” said the representative of the Ministry.
Natalia Ignatovich, Deputy Chairwoman of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Minsk City Executive Committee, said that the unemployment rate in Minsk region is the lowest among the regions of the country. The unemployment rate in this region today is 0.2%. The situation on the labour market is characterized by an increase in the number of jobs. There are 12 vacancies per unemployed person, which is twice as many as in the previous year. The most popular professions in rural areas are animal breeders, zootechnicians, veterinarians, doctors, nurses. The state subsidy for opening own business was granted to 219 people, more often it was about hairdressing services and household services. One of the proven forms of employment organization in Minsk region is resettlement for the purpose of employment.
“Employment services work with employers in another region. A tripartite agreement is concluded and the unemployed person moves to another district, where he or she is provided with housing (dormitory, apartment or house) together with family members, including children. This year alone, 35 families and their families changed jobs,” said Natalya Ignatovich.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection is responsible for implementing the following Sustainable Development Goals:
Goal 1: Eradicate poverty in all its forms everywhere;
Goal 5. Ensuring gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls;
Goal 8. Promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all;
Goal 10. Reducing inequalities within and among countries.
More than 200 United Nations partners from all regions of the country gathered to participate in the National Consultations on Priorities of the United Nations and the Republic of Belarus Cooperation Framework for Sustainable Development for 2021-2025, which took place in Minsk on 23-24 October 2019.
National consultations on the priorities of the United Nations Development Cooperation Framework and the Republic of Belarus in the field of sustainable development for the period 2021-2025 are being held for the first time in the Republic of Belarus with broad participation of UN partners, such as representatives of the Government, Parliament, civil society organizations and business. The consultations are a continuation of the activities of the UN system organizations in Belarus to assist the Republic of Belarus in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In her speech at the opening of the national consultations, Marianna Shchetkina, the National Coordinator for the SDGs, pointed out the importance for the experts working on the new programme to be interested in the results of their work and to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals themselves, as their implementation is a hard daily task.
“The most important goal is a partnership goal. In addition to reliable, motivated partners of Belarus, we find new friends. Positions between the states are converging on the basis of the SDGs work, which contributes to the development of trust between them and is the key to improving both political and economic relations,” said Marianna Shchetkina.
Speaking to the participants of the consultations, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Dapkyunas noted that Belarus has longstanding constructive relations with the United Nations in Belarus and many technical assistance projects have been implemented.
“At the moment we are at a new stage. The sustainable development agenda and the reform of the UN development system initiated by the UN Secretary-General provide an opportunity to look at the programmatic work of Belarus with the UN from a new angle, which will allow us to reach a new, more effective level of cooperation,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Speaking at the opening of the event, UN Resident Coordinator Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecki noted the important role played by the National Coordinator for the Sustainable Development Goals, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, other government agencies, as well as civil society organizations, business partners and young people in the promotion of the SDGs at the country level and the preparation of the new Cooperation Framework.
The new programme will replace the United Nations Development Assistance Framework of the Republic of Belarus for 2016-2020. The national consultations will help identify priority areas of cooperation between the United Nations and the Republic of Belarus with the participation of government agencies, civil society organizations, businesses and UN agencies.
In the first part of the National Consultations, the participants got acquainted with the priorities of the National Sustainable Development Strategy of the Republic of Belarus for the period up to 2035, the results of the regional consultations and ways to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs.
During the consultations, the UN agencies and national experts discussed the priorities for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in four areas:
According to the Sustainable Development Index, over the past two years Belarus has been ranked 23rd in the international ranking (out of 156 countries in 2018 and 162 countries in 2019) and is generally rated above the average for the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
International Conference on National Evaluation Capacities is held in Hurghada, Egypt, from 22 to 24 October. The slogan of the Conference is “Leaving no one behind: evaluation for 2030”, with more than 500 participants from governments and parliaments, international development organizations and evaluation organizations. The representative of the Republic of Belarus at the Conference is the Deputy Chairwoman of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus E.I. Kuharevich.
The Sustainable Development Goals imply that the national governments will independently define and evaluate their objectives and indicators in achieving the goals. In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, each country should assess and analyze progress in achieving the goals and highlight achievements and challenges along the way. This will contribute to greater accountability, transparency and decision-making.
The meetings of the Conference will be organized around three interrelated pillars:
The Conference can be followed on Twitter on the hashtag #NECdev. You can also join the live stream, view the national evaluation country profiles, and undergo the online self-assessment.
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