A series of training sessions for people 65+ and specialists from territorial service centers of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection started in Minsk. There are already 3.7 thousand silver volunteers in Belarus, almost 3.3 thousand of them are women. The average age of a silver volunteer is 70 years. The idea is to further develop the ways and means of volunteering, to involve more older people in silver volunteering and to use new opportunities for this.
The School’s program is varied: training in information work techniques in social networks, methods of effective communication in mobilizing and attracting volunteers, and even neuro-gymnastics that develops cognitive abilities.
The School was opened by alternate SDG Youth Ambassadors Ekaterina Bobko (SDG “Good Health and Well-Being”) and Karolina Lapunova (SDG 5 “Gender Equality”).
Their interactive presentation focused on the connection between achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and overcoming ageist stereotypes regarding health issues, equal rights and opportunities for men and women and other stereotypes that limit the opportunities of people 65+.
«My 42-year-old daughter is faced with the fact that they don’t want to hire her because she’s not the right age – says one of the participants. – If my daughter, an accomplished specialist, experiences similar problems at 42, then what about the older generation?».
People 65+ want to be in demand. According to The 2022 Revision of World Population Prospects, the number of people aged 80 years and over is projected to triple, from 143 million in 2019 to 426 million in 2050. We are at the beginning of the Decade of Healthy Aging (2021-2030), which the UN is pursuing to ensure that both states and people themselves see and can realize the opportunities that allow older people to live and act in accordance with their values and ideas about themselves. One of these opportunities is silver volunteering. “School of Silver Volunteers” is taking place this year in all regions within the framework of the Joint Project “Support to the Efforts of the Republic of Belarus in Nationalization and Localization of SDGs”, implemented by UN agencies and funded by the Government of the Russian Federation. The trainings were organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Belarus.
The “One District – One Project” program, aimed at strengthening the Belarusian economy, as well as intensifying investment activity, has been implemented in Belarus since 2022. First of all, when implementing initiatives within the framework of this program, the positive effect on the socio-economic development of the region is taken into account.
Among the projects already implemented, most are production projects. By industry – woodworking, metallurgical production, production of machinery and equipment, processing of agro-industrial products, production of medical devices, pharmaceuticals. Among the largest and most successful: the enterprise for the creation of carbon black LLC “Omsk Carbon Mogilev” (Mogilev region); furniture factory with elements of the digital factory of JSC “Olsa” (Mogilev region); enterprise for the production of cheese and dairy products OJSC “Rogachevsky MKK” (Gomel region); OJSC “Vitebsk Broiler Poultry Farm” (Vitebsk region); OJSC “Slutsk Cheese-Making Plant” (Minsk region); wood processing complex (Grodno region); OJSC “Borisov Plant of Medical Preparations” (Minsk region).
Currently, the list of investment projects of the “One District – One Project” program includes 190 projects. The entire progress of implementation and the percentage of development of each project is controlled by the Invest Project monitoring system for investment projects, developed by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus. Work to adjust the list is carried out annually: it is planned to include about two dozen more projects in 2024.
The results of the implementation of the “One District – One Project” program will be summed up in 2026.
The implementation of the “One District – One Project” program contributes to the achievement by the Republic of Belarus of Sustainable Development Goals 8, 9, 10, 11 and other SDGs.
More detailed information about the “One District – One Project” program can be found in the episode of the talk show “Economic Environment”.
On May 17, 2024, the final of the XVI Youth Media Festival “Young Voices for Sustainable Development” was held at the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after. M. Tanka.
112 works (videos, posters, infographics, photographs) were submitted to participate in the media festival. Based on the results of the expert assessment, 31 media products were included in the list of laureates of the media festival. All laureates received recommendations from experts on improving the content, musical accompaniment, and technical characteristics of their works.
Full list of laureates of the XVI Youth Media Festival “Young Voices for Sustainable Development”
The media festival was organized by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus and the Coordination Center «Education for Sustainable Development» of the Belarusian State Pedagogical University. M. Tanka within the framework of the international technical assistance project “Support to the Efforts of the Republic of Belarus in Nationalization and Localization of SDGs”, implemented by UN agencies in the Republic of Belarus and funded by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The Youth Media Festival “Young Voices for Sustainable Development” makes an important contribution to the popularization of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Republic of Belarus.
On May 21, 2024 at 11.00 we invite you to take part in an online consultation for applicants of the Competition of Pilot Initiatives on the Sustainable Development Goals. The Competition is held from May 1 to May 31, 2024.
During the consultation will be provided:
You can send your questions in advance by email pilot.initsiativa@gmail.com.
Connection to ZOOM is available via the link.ID: 819 3969 6902Code: 387981
Information about the international technical assistance project “Support to the Efforts of the Republic of Belarus in Nationalization and Localization of SDGs” is available via the link.
The Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus is holding a public discussion of the Draft Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus “On Entrepreneurial Activities”.
The Draft proposes to approve the Regulations on the Procedure for the Formation and Maintenance of the Register of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, and also to determine:
Comments and suggestions can be made in the special topic at the Legal Forum of Belarus until May 25, 2024.
Improving the conditions for business activities contributes to the achievement by the Republic of Belarus of Sustainable Development Goal 8 and other SDGs.
In 2024-2025, the Grodno Regional Executive Committee will hold the Grodno Regional Business Ideas Competition.
The Competition is aimed at popularizing and developing entrepreneurial activity among young people, increasing their financial literacy, as well as identifying promising business ideas for the socio-economic development of the Grodno region.
Participation in the Competition can be taken by persons registered in the Grodno region, who have reached the age of 14, who are students of institutions of general secondary education, secondary specialized education, university students of the Grodno region and (or) individual entrepreneurs. Each participant can submit one business idea to the Competition. To participate in the Competition fill out the application.
Holding the Grodno Regional Business Ideas Competition will contribute to the achievement by the Republic of Belarus of Sustainable Development Goals 8, 11 and other SDGs.
Detailed information about the Business Ideas Competition can be found in the Instructions on the procedure for organizing and conducting the Grodno Regional Business Ideas Competition.
From May 16 to May 18, 2024 the educational intensive for the Youth Ambassadors of the Sustainable Development Goals and their alternates will be held at the Belarusian State University named after M. Tanka. The intensive is aimed at raising awareness of the activities of the Republic of Belarus aimed at achieving the SDGs, as well as studying methodological techniques for promoting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development among adolescents and youth.
The intensive is conducted by the Coordination Center «Education for Sustainable Development» of the Belarusian State University named after M. Tanka with the support of the UN Children’s Fund in Belarus and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus within the framework of the Joint Project «Support to the Efforts of the Republic of Belarus in Nationalization and Localization of SDGs», implemented by UN agencies in the Republic of Belarus and funded by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The educational intensive program plans to conduct thematic training on social inclusion, excursions, lectures, an award ceremony for the winners of the competency-based Internet Olympiad on sustainable development, as well as viewing and discussing the work of the media festival «Young Voices for Sustainable Development».
Intensive educational program for SDG Youth Ambassadors and their alternates
In February-March 2024, within the framework of the UNDP project «Development of the Innovative Potential of Youth for Accelerated Sustainable Development of Belarus», a series of foresight sessions were held to forecast the needs of the labor market for the next 10 years.
More than 70 representatives from more than 50 organizations, as well as vocational education institutions, took part in the events.
A total of three foresight sessions were held, each of which was dedicated to one of the economic sectors: agriculture, mechanical engineering and construction. Based on the results of foresight sessions, five new professions were identified for each industry, taking into account trends and technologies that will be relevant over the next 10 years. In addition, for each profession, competencies that need to be taught to students in vocational education institutions were identified.
The results of the foresight sessions will become part of a comprehensive study on the introduction of new professions into the country’s economy.
Updating educational programs and professional standards makes an important contribution to the achievement by the Republic of Belarus of Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8, 9 and other SDGs.
More details about the results of the foresight sessions can be found at the link.
From 6 to 8 May 2024, the Expert Group Meeting on Statistics and Migration was held in Geneva. During the event, issues of generating statistical data on migration in the UNECE region, strengthening regional cooperation, preparing official statistics on refugees, internally displaced persons and stateless persons and other issues were discussed.
The experience of the Republic of Belarus was presented by the Deputy Chairman of the National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus Vasilevskaya Zh.N. In her speech, she noted that the results obtained during the population census are the most complete, universal and comparable, which allows for cross-country comparisons of internal and external migration. According to the latest census data, in Belarus, internal migration significantly exceeded external migration and amounted to 3.4 million people, of which 57.6% – women. Among the main reasons for changing place of residence are: family circumstances – 54.8%, work – 19.8%, return to the previous place of residence – 8.2%. There is an increase in the share of Belarusians in the structure of the country’s population. Among the methods of data dissemination, the information and analytical system «Final Census Data», the 10% micro-sample based on the 2019 population census, the information and analytical system «Geostatistics» were noted.
More detailed information about the participation of the Belarusian delegation in the Meeting can be found at the link.
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