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A round table discussion on "Implementation of the 'Child and Adolescent Friendly City' platform using the example of the Vitebsk region" was held at the Vitebsk Region Media Center.
The experts at the round table included Dmitry Demidov, Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies, Vyacheslav Durnov, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, Olga Ivanova, Chairperson of the Vitebsk City Council of Deputies, and Rustam Khaydarov, Representative of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Belarus.
– Novopolotsk was the first city in Belarus to receive the status of "Child Friendly City," and this is a matter of our pride, – said Dmitry Demidov. – The work carried out over 11 years within this initiative is yielding results. We have created 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 cooperation with UNICEF. 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 has 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.
The Vitebsk Region Media Center also hosted a presentation of the experience of implementing the global initiative by representatives of the education system and the Parliament of Children and Youth of Novopolotsk.
By the way. In the Vitebsk region, the honorary title "Child and Adolescent Friendly City" has also been awarded to Polotsk and Orsha. Braslav has joined the initiative.