Mother's Week will be held in Belarus from October 9-15, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection informed a BELTA correspondent.
Mother's Week will be held in Belarus from October 9-15, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection informed a BELTA correspondent.
According to specialists, Mother's Week is aimed at supporting the tradition of caring for women, strengthening family values, and enhancing the prestige of a healthy, harmonious family and responsible parenthood. The Ministries of Information, Education, Health, Culture, Internal Affairs, Defence, Agriculture and Food, regional executive committees, and the Minsk City Executive Committee are participating in the events of this thematic week. The public association "Belarusian Union of Women" and the Belarusian Orthodox Church are making a significant contribution.
The Mother's Week programme includes traditional formal receptions at city, district, and regional executive committees, awarding the Mother's Order, festive concerts, recreation evenings, as well as new format events (for example, on October 13, the republican family life lesson "Healthy Family - Healthy Nation" will be held, and on October 14, a "Family Life Lesson" will take place at BSPU named after M. Tank, etc.).
On October 10, the public association "Belarusian Union of Women" will hold an international conference of women entrepreneurs "Women's Entrepreneurship as a Factor of Sustainable Development".
The second Minsk City Mothers' Forum "The Practice of Small Deeds - a Significant Contribution to the City's Development" will take place on October 11. From October 12-15, the exhibition-forum "Motherhood and Childhood" will be held in the capital.
Honouring mothers will take place in the internal affairs bodies, formations, and military units of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Visits to families of employees and servicemen who died in the line of duty (military service) are planned. On October 13, the final of the republican campaign "Family! We Serve Together!" will be held.
Congratulations to women-mothers from among military personnel and civilian staff will be held in formations, military units, and organizations of the Armed Forces. The Central Officers' House will honour the active members of the Belarusian Public Association of Soldiers' Mothers, the Association of Families of Servicemen Who Died in Afghanistan "Memory and Duty", and the Social Protection Fund for Widows and Children of Servicemen Who Died in Local Military Conflicts "Duty".
A prayer service in churches across Belarus for the health of all mothers will be held on October 14.
Maternity hospitals will congratulate women who gave birth on Mother's Day. Mothers from large, foster, and guardian families, and mothers raising children with disabilities will be honoured. Charity events will be held for them.
The "Healthy Mother - Healthy Baby" campaign will take place on 14 October. Throughout the week, meetings and consultations on adolescent, women's, and children's health protection are planned in healthcare organisations.
In healthcare organisations, the "Week without Abortions" campaign will run from 9-15 October.
The National Adoption Centre will send congratulatory cards to mothers who adopted their second or subsequent child in 2016-2017.
The Ministry of Justice, the Republican Bar Association, and the Belarusian Notary Chamber will organise events offering free legal advice to mothers from large families in Minsk and regional centres during the week.
Following a kind established tradition, the "Earthly Bow, Dear Mother!" celebration for rural mothers will take place on World Rural Women's Day.
During these October days, celebrating couples – golden and silver wedding anniversaries – will be honoured. Festive events will be held in conjunction with cultural institutions titled "Visiting Grandma".
The "Mercy" charity campaign includes visits to lonely elderly women in nursing homes, day care departments of territorial centres for social services, and residential care homes for the elderly and disabled.
Educational institutions will host festive events for mothers, including matinees, meetings, and exhibitions of children's creativity titled "About the Most Precious Person in the World".
A round table discussion on "Enhancing the Role of Media in Addressing Current Issues of Improving Women's Health, Strengthening Family Values, and Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle" will be held on 12 October. Round tables and press conferences on reproductive health protection and healthy lifestyle formation will be organised. The results of the republican creative competition among media outlets "A Strong Family - A Strong State" will be summarised and winners awarded. The results of the online drawing competition "Mom's Smile" will be announced.
The Ministry noted that in 2016-2020, family policy is aimed at maintaining achieved birth rates, strengthening the institution of the family, and utilising the established family support mechanisms (formation of family capital, provision of financial assistance to large families for the academic year, provision of a wide range of social services to families with children, etc.). This is provided for by the subprogramme "Family and Childhood" of the state programme "People's Health and Demographic Security of the Republic of Belarus" for the current five-year period.