Vitebsk and Gomel may join the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities
The event is part of the program of the German-2017 Weeks and the Weeks of Sustainable Development, organized by the Program for the Support of Belarus of the Federal Government of Germany in cooperation with state, international and public organizations. The conference will be attended by representatives of relevant ministries, authorities of Vitebsk and Gomel, businesses, state and commercial educational institutions, international agencies and public organizations. Reports by Belarusian experts on the place of the knowledge economy in the development of Belarusian entrepreneurship, the role of business education in shaping the creative economy of regions, as well as regional sustainable development strategies will be presented. Foreign experts - Sung Lee, coordinator of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities, Elena Albertovskaya, representative of the People's University of Gelsenkirchen, and Sebastian Knopp, specialist of the Science and Economy Department of the Regensburg City Administration - will talk about the experience of implementing the "learning city" concept and developing the creative economy at the local level. The discussion part will be devoted to discussing the prospects for Vitebsk and Gomel to join the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities.
The meeting will also be attended by Tatiana Starinskaya, a deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, who, together with partners in Vitebsk in 2012, implemented the project "Learning Region: Education for All Generations." Its outcome was the creation of the People's Social University on the basis of the Territorial Center for Social Services for the Population of Pervomaisky District. "The demand for educational services provided by the social university over several years,showed that it is education that satisfies the personal and professional needs of a person, and therefore contributes to the development of human capital, ensures the viability of individual communities and sustainable socio-economic development of regions," believes Tatyana Starinskaya. The International Conference "Learning City for the Creative Economy" is part of the program of the same name, implemented by the Representative Office of the German Association of Adult Education Centers in the Republic of Belarus in cooperation with the Association of Continuing Education and Enlightenment, the Association of Business Education and the Educational Institution "Social Interventions".
The program is being implemented in 2017-2018 in two pilot cities - Vitebsk and Gomel. It is aimed at promoting the implementation of regional sustainable development strategies for 2016-2025 through the development of intersectoral cooperation, as well as promoting the ideas of the creative economy and the concept of a "learning city" among representatives of local authorities, educational institutions, business and civil society.