MINSK, 3 February (BelTA) – The Belarusian government is set to earmark Br16 billion to finance child benefits in 2021-2025, Marina Artemenko, the head of the population, gender and family policy department at the Labor and Social Security Ministry, said at a press conference "Key areas of Belarus' development: Happy family, strong regions, smart country, state partner," BelTA has learned.
In the new five-year period work will be continued to develop social support measures for families with children. In order to encourage births, the support mechanism such as the family capital will be strengthened. Families will be able to use family capital for more purposes. “We are currently working on all issues and will formalize them in a draft decree of the head of state," Marina Artemenko said.
“Another element of the system is welfare benefits. It will be strengthened too. Some Br16 billion will be earmarked to finance welfare benefits in the current five-year period. Taking into account the increase in average salaries, the allowance for children under the age of 3 will be increased 1.5 times,” Marina Artemenko noted.
She added that the needs of welfare recipients will be examined before updating the system of targeted social support. “For example, since 1 September 2020, the following norm has been in effect: families with many children are entitled to monthly social benefits for twelve months instead of six months within a year. At the same time, tougher requirements for receiving this kind of aid have been introduced. I must say that more than 2,000 large families have already taken advantage of this opportunity. This is a good measure and we consider offering this kind of support to families with two children,” she said.
During the discussion platforms, various proposals were put forward, for example, to assign one-time benefits more than once in a year taking into account the needs of a person.
Millennial couples are in no hurry to start a family, therefore, in order to stimulate births, the government needs to create conditions enabling young parents to keep pursuing their career aspirations and personal growth. Flexible work schedules and forms of employment, distance working are needed to ensure harmonious balance between family and work. “Plans are in place to amend the Labor Code this year. These issues will be considered as well,” Marina Artemenko added.
“It is also necessary to develop childcare services. The program envisages the construction of 90 pre-school education facilities within the next five years. We also see that it is necessary to provide alternative childcare services in the social service system. For example, babysitting services are quite in demand today. The list of families who have the right to this service free of charge have been significantly expanded since January 2021,” Marina Artemenko said. Short-term babysitting services are among the new forms under consideration.
Strengthening marital bonds is also in focus. The divorce rate in families where the spouses are of reproductive age is high. A lot of work is planned to increase the role of fatherhood. “Social research shows that the level of fathers' involvement in raising children influences the contentment with the distribution of responsibilities in a family, its stability, and harmonious childhood,” Marina Artemenko noted. Plans are in place to develop social advertising and work with children in school, namely, appropriate programs for parents and children run by teachers. All measures to support families with children are set forth in the state program “People's Health and Demographic Security”. Some Br2.2 billion will be designated for its subprogram “Family and Childhood”. Taking into account family benefits, the total sum of funding will equal about Br18 billion.
The press conference was attended by representatives of the Economy Ministry, Labor and Social Security Ministry, Architecture and Construction Ministry, Housing and Utilities Ministry, Education Ministry, and Healthcare Ministry.
