MINSK, 20 March (BelTA) – Almost 10,000 Belarusians received social services under a program to commission and contract social care services, Belarus Deputy Labor and Social Security Ministry Valery Kovalkov said at the final conference “Overcoming the Borders: Partnership for the Future” to sum up the results of the 8th Support Program of Belarus in the Minsk Johannes Rau International Center for Education and Exchange, BelTA has learned.
“One of the areas where we were able to use the experience of foreign countries is social care services. We have contracted non-governmental organizations to take care of senior citizens and people who need extra help. The system of procuring social care services was launched in Belarus five years ago. The first contracts were signed in 2014. This measure helps address complex specially important challenges by finding new services and extending the list of providers. Over this period, 280 contracts have been signed to procure social care services. In the first year we started with 34 contracts. This figure has been rising ever since. We have subsidized more than 500 salaries of workers of non-governmental commercial organizations. As a result nearly 10,000 Belarusian citizens have received social services as part of this program,” Vasily Kovalkov said.
According to him, this program is constantly evolving. Firstly, the availability of several providers helps improve the quality of services. Secondly, we are developing close contacts between the state and non-governmental organizations.
In his words, the results will be reviewed in the near future. The main thing, however, is to outline plans for further cooperation. “We are primarily interested in the development of social entrepreneurship. Since one of Belarus' goals is to involve unemployed citizens in the economy, we need to get as many people as possible to work. We hope that the ninth program will help us solve a number of issues, for example, create additional jobs, find tools for the development of labor potential and, most importantly, make the life of citizens better,” he said.
The conference “Overcoming the Borders: Partnership for the Future” is underway on 20-21 March. The event has brought together representatives of international organizations, government agencies, and public associations. The participants heard reports on the results of the 22 projects in social innovations and sustainable development and outlined areas of further cooperation. The program of the conference includes a number of workshops. A set of instruments for efficient energy management and social enterprise will be presented during the event as well. The second day of the conference will discuss the opportunities to localize the SDGs, to establish efficient intersectoral cooperation and partnerships.
The Support Program of Belarus “Overcoming the Borders” has been underway since 2002. Commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and German Society for International Cooperation, the program has been implemented by the Dortmund International Education Center jointly with Minsk Johannes Rau International Center for Education and Exchange. The program aims to support Germany-Belarus initiatives to turn humanitarian relations into project partnerships. Over 270 projects have been carried out since the program was launched. In 2019, the program will hold another contest of initiatives and will focus on facilitating the Belarusian National Sustainable Development Strategy in the context of the UN 2030 Agenda.
