The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is a department with numerous challenges, which the pandemic of covid-19 made even bigger and that is why my responsibility was even greater to respond to the challenges and to address the needs of the citizens in the right way and in time, he said. Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jagoda Shahpaska in his address through social networks, summarizing some of the projects from his term.
– Throughout the period of the pandemic, through consistent observance of the Protocols, we provided safe care for preschool children in kindergartens. In 16 months we have built and opened 16 new kindergartens, and an additional eight have been completed and will be operational by the beginning of spring. To make it easier to bridge the pandemic with Covid-19, by lowering the criteria, we facilitated the entry of vulnerable categories of citizens in the social protection system, so that 9.000 new households use guaranteed minimum assistance, she informed.
Minister Shahpaska stressed that, in order to more easily overcome the health and economic crisis, an energy supplement was provided for 36.000 recipients of guaranteed minimum assistance and 9.300 beneficiaries of state social pension throughout the year in the amount of 1.000 denars per month.
– As a social democrat, the battle for workers’ rights was one of my top priorities. Therefore, the adoption of the Law, which stipulates that “Sunday is a day of weekly rest” for over 92 percent of workers, on which I worked intensively with workers and employers, makes me especially proud. “I sincerely believe in the concept of ‘One Society for All’ and that is why I submitted the Law on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination in a procedure on the fifth day of my term and it was voted by consensus by both the government and the opposition,” Shahpaska said.
She pointed out that the fight to prevent and protect against violence against women and domestic violence is her mission in politics.
– Through the process of adoption of the Law on Prevention and Protection from Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, I united, above all, women from both the government and the opposition in the Macedonian Parliament. Violence against women is a non-partisan issue, which unites all women because it does not recognize political, religious, religious, intellectual or educational affiliation. “I will not give up this fight either,” said Minister Shahpaska.
She adds that the most difficult part of the deinstitutionalization process is ongoing, ie that seven houses have been opened with support for 35 people with severe and the most severe intellectual disability from the Special Institution in Demir Kapija.
With the support of the EU, the transformation of the Institute for Rehabilitation of Children and Youth in Skopje is underway, into a modern center for daily services in the community for people with disabilities, a day center for people with disabilities has been opened in Lipkovo, and construction is already underway. of a new day center in the municipality of Caska.
– We created and put into operation the audio reader in Macedonian “Kiko” and in Albanian “Hana”, which transfers the written text into a voice message intended for the blind and visually impaired. In this way we increase the independence and independent functioning of these people. We reduced the right to use personal assistants at the age of six. We have adopted the amendments to the laws on social and child protection, which provide a new approach to disability assessment according to the International Classification of Functioning (ICF), informed Minister Shahpaska.
In her address before the end of her term, she also referred to the process of decentralization of social services – help and care in the home for the elderly and people with disabilities, so that 900 beneficiaries receive daily care by 300 licensed carers, who receive monetary compensation for the services delivered.
In that context is the information that the number of licensed social service providers has increased from 23 to 62, which enables pluralization of social service providers.
Additionally, two centers for support of foster families have been opened, in Skopje and Bitola, in order to encourage as many caregivers as possible to provide quality care for orphans as a form closest to biological families.
– We are a welfare state and the care for citizens at social risk – marginalized people, people with disabilities, the hard-employed – through social entrepreneurship takes an organized form. We opened the first center for support of social enterprises. With the latest Law on Bankruptcy, we provided material security for an additional 1.100 bankrupts, and we adopted the Law on Retirement at the age of 64 to enable the inclusion of young people in the labor market, reminded Shahpaska.
Regarding the ongoing projects, she informed that the preparation of a new menu for proper and healthy nutrition of children in kindergartens is in the final stage, which is made in accordance with modern standards for proper nutrition of preschool children. .
A draft version of the systemic Law on Labor Relations has been prepared, which envisages a new approach in the area of maternity leave, by introducing parental leave of the father, shortens fixed-term employment contracts, regulates work remotely and from home…
At the end, Minister Shahpaska thanked the citizens for the expressed trust, but also support throughout the period while she served them honestly, responsibly, transparently and dedicatedly – investing her energy in the service of the citizens, and thanked the Prime Minister Zoran Zaev for the opportunity to be part of his team.
Source: MIA
