The Conference "Methodology and Prospects of Using the Findings of the Generations and Gender Survey" was held in Minsk on November 28-29 shortly before the first wave of the social research "Family formation, stability of family relations and fertility in the changing socio-economic conditions of the life of Belarusians", scheduled to start in January 2017.

This large-scale survey is funded by the Government of the Russian Federation, UNFPA and UNICEF as part of the project "Support to the implementation of the national programme of demographic security of the Republic of Belarus". National Project Coordinator is the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus.

The topics for discussion during the conference include, in particular, theoretical and methodological aspects of the international programme "Generations and Gender", the experience of conducting a survey of family and reproductive behaviour, use and comparative analysis of the obtained data, possible access of Belarusian analysts to the European bases of sociological data, and others.

"The findings of the "Generations and Gender" programme will be helpful in adopting evidence-based population policies and programmes, and in their assessment. The subject of research is both planned and actual behaviour of people and households, which will greatly help government structures in the area of family policy," said Elena Kasko, Assistant Representative at UNFPA Belarus, during the Conference. "It would provide an insight into the effectiveness of family and socio-demographic natalist policies of the government, priority support to young families and families with multiple children, and many others."

Scholars from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Czechia, the Netherlands were invited to participate in the international forum. These experts have studied families and reproductive behaviour, conducted international benchmark studies, developed and evaluated the effectiveness of demographic policies and family support programmes. Young scientists and postgraduate students doing similar research also attended the Conference.

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International Generations and Gender Programme (GGP) and tools for assessing policy acceptability (GGP/PA) constitute the conceptual basis of the survey "Family formation, stability of family relations and fertility in the changing socioeconomic conditions of the life of Belarusians". Population Division of the UN Economic Commission for Europe is the initiator and coordinator of the programme. National implementer is the Sociological and Political Research Centre of the Belarusian State University. The Sociological and Political Research Centre is preparing for the survey in close cooperation with the experts of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, which plays the key role in the scientific coordination of the programme. These surveys will make it possible to analyse the processes of family formation and fertility in order to identify the impact of social policy measures and other context factors on reproductive behaviours and family relations.