Resource Center of Adolescents’ Empowerment opened in Brest

The Resource Center of Adolescents’ Empowerment opened its doors in Brest on March 5. The Center in Brest is a part of the UNICEF project “Children- and Adolescent-Friendly Cities” and has become the 7th one in the country - now there are such sites in all regional centers of Belarus and in the city of Minsk.

The red ribbon was snipped by UNICEF Representative in Belarus Dr. Rashed Mustafa Sarwar, Mr. Marek Kubersky, Vice-Director of the Cooperation Development Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, and Gennady Borisyuk, Deputy Governor of the Brest Oblast. This gesture marked the official opening of the Center "Stupeni".

"In 2019, the world celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most important document declaring the rights of children and adolescents. Every child and teenager has the right to self-expression, to express his thoughts and ideas, to participate in the life of society. And we are confident that the Resource Center that we are opening today will be the very platform for the implementation of youth initiatives and projects, ”Dr. Rashed Mustafa Sarwar admitted.

Similar to the Resource Centers in other cities, in “Stupeni” in Brest adolescents will be able to come together to share their ideas and experiences, develop talents and communicate with like-minded people.

The Representative of UNICEF in Belarus noted that “Investing in adolescents is indeed relevant today, especially in the context of commitments made by the country to monitor the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. And today, the initiative of “The cities friendly to children and adolescents” serves as a platform for realizing the SDGs at the local level, where adolescents and young people will be the most important actors. ”

After the bright opening ceremony, the guests met with teenagers - they shared their vision of engaging adolescents in society, discussed the role of adolescents in achieving sustainable development goals and asked their questions.

The creation of the Resource Center of Adolescents’ Empowerment “Stupeni” became possible thanks to the close cooperation of UNICEF in Belarus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland and the Brest Regional Administration.