A children's playground near a 60–apartment house located in the center of the town of Vetka (Gomel Region) was fully renovated under the EC–UNDP joint project. The official opening of the playground was held on 5 October with participation of UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus, Mr. Antonius Broek, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Ukraine and Belarus, Ambassador José Manuel Pinto Teixeira, representatives of the local authorities.

The playground renovation cost about USD 18,000, including installation of fitness and entertainment equipment (monkey bars, merry–go–rounds, slides, etc.), construction of a mini–football/basketball field, fences and parking lots. This is now the only functioning playground in the town of Vetkawhich counts about 8,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,500 are children.

“A long way was made from the desire of the house dwellers to fit out the courtyard to the opening of the playground,” UNDP Resident Representative noted in his speech. “Yet it demonstrates the possibility to do something by yourself with the help of the Government, the UN and donor resources, in this case from the EC. What is needed is just hard work, desire and energy.”

The rehabilitation of the Vetka children's playground is the first in series of initiatives that are going to be carried out in the framework of the action “Combat the Negative Effects of the Chernobyl Disaster in Belarus” financed by the European Union and implemented jointly by the United Nations Development Programme and the Belarusian authorities.

This project will implement in the Chernobyl affected areas a number of social and economic initiatives which will aim at creating sustainable sources of income and employment for the local people. In addition it will seek to increase citizens’ participation in public affairs by engaging local communities in the identification of priority interventions and in reconstruction works and other community activities.

For more information please contact: UNDP Communications Associate, Vladislav Khilkevich, at +375 17 227 38 17, e–mail: .

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