Common youth policy between Belarus and CIS member states

In our country, from October 19 to October 20, a meeting of the Youth Affairs Council of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States was organized in person.

The meeting is attended by authorized representatives of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Belarus.

Among the issues discussed are “On state youth policy in the Republic of Belarus”, “On preparations for the Year of Volunteer Movement in 2024 in the CIS”, “On the Action Plan for the implementation of the International Project “Youth Capital of the CIS” in 2024 in Tashkent”, “On the participation of youth delegations of the CIS member states in the World Youth Festival in 2024”, “On the results of the e-sports tournament “Youth e-Sports Games of the Commonwealth” in 2023.

Today at the President Hotel, during a meeting of the Council for Youth Affairs of the CIS member states, the director of the Department of Humanitarian Cooperation, General Political and Social Problems of the CIS Executive Committee, Aleksey Sazonov, said that the CIS highly values the experience of Belarus in working with youth: “The cooperation of our countries in the field of work with youth is a priority, it is in demand. We note that this area is developing dynamically.”

The report “On state youth policy in the Republic of Belarus” was made by the Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus, Chairman of the Council for Youth Affairs of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Alexander Kadlubay.

It was noted that constant and close attention is paid to the issue of improving work with youth in our country. In this regard, the Ministry of Education, together with subjects of youth policy, has taken a number of measures. Thus, the ongoing Strategy for the Development of State Youth Policy in the Republic of Belarus until 2030 defines common approaches to working with youth at the republican and local levels, intersectoral and interdepartmental interaction.

In 2023, indices of the effectiveness of state youth policy and the degree of formation of positive behavioral attitudes of young people have been developed.

The State Program “Education and Youth Policy” for 2021–2025 is being successfully implemented.
In order to unite the information activities of all interested structures working in the modern youth environment, the Republican Youth Center was created, the information Internet platform-site “Youth of Belarus” was launched, Youtube and tik-tok channels were created.

At the same time, traditional forms of information work are preserved. The “SAC” project – “School of Active Citizen” – is being actively implemented. Dialogue platforms, meetings, and streams with interesting people are also in demand among young people.

Special attention is given to the civic and military-patriotic education of young people. The participants of the meeting were informed that the content of the educational process has been revised in schools, and a mechanism has been introduced for conducting training sessions for students in grades X-XI in the form of excursions to iconic places in the country.

As part of the Year of Peace and Creation, a new patriotic project “All-Belarusian Youth Expedition “Routes of Memory” is being implemented. Routes of Unity" and the cultural and patriotic movie marathon "See and Remember".

Alexander Kadlubay drew attention to the key point in working with young people, interaction with all interested departments and organizations is very important. In this regard, the Ministry of Education is working jointly with the Ministry of Defense to create a republican center for the patriotic education of youth in the Brest Fortress, which this year was declared an All-Belarusian youth construction site. Together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, military-patriotic clubs are being created on the basis of military units.

To exchange experience and best practices, the activities of the Republican Resource Center for the Patriotic Education of Youth have been organized as a single cluster on the basis of the Republican Center for Ecology and Local History, and the interactive platform “Patriot.by” (patriot.rcek.by).

At the state level, areas of work with youth in work teams have been formed, in which young citizens are provided with all possible support: recognition of professional achievements of youth, career and professional growth, adaptation of young specialists, support for youth participation in collegial advisory structures, encouragement of social activity of young people and their public participation, development of the creative potential of youth, support for young families.

The emphasis in youth policy is on the formation of traditional family values. In the republic, the “Parents University” project has been introduced into the practice of educational institutions.

The agenda of the meeting of the Council for Youth Affairs of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States is quite substantial. The Council's Work Plan for 2024 is to be discussed and it is necessary to determine the place for the next meeting of the Council as well as develop specific decisions on issues on the meeting agenda.