The implementation of the "Child and Adolescent Friendly City" platform was discussed at the Vitebsk Region Media Center
The round table experts included Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies Dmitry Demidov, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee Vyacheslav Durnov, Chairman of the Vitebsk City Council of Deputies Olga Ivanova, and Representative of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Belarus Rustam Khaydarov.
“Novopolotsk was the first in Belarus to receive the status of a 'Child Friendly City,' which is a source of our pride,” said Dmitry Demidov. “And the work carried out over 11 years within this initiative is yielding results. We have established the Parliament of Children and Youth of Novopolotsk, and now many children are participating in public initiatives in Novopolotsk and implementing their own ideas. We need to intensify our work with the UNICEF fund. I am also confident that the city authorities of Vitebsk, together with the main department for education of the regional executive committee, will consolidate the existing resources of the regional center, which, in my opinion, already possesses the necessary potential and fully meets the criteria of being child and adolescent friendly. We must build a system for involving our children in making key decisions in any given microdistrict of our city and in the administration of the regional center as a whole.”
Dmitry Demidov expressed a bold forward-looking idea: why not consider the concept of the entire Vitebsk region becoming a child-friendly region.
A presentation of the experience of implementing the global initiative by representatives of the education system and the Parliament of Children and Students of Novopolotsk also took place at the Vitebsk Region Media Center.
Incidentally, in the Vitebsk region, the honorary title "City Friendly to Children and Adolescents" has also been awarded to Polotsk and Orsha. Braslav has joined the initiative.