262 R . Ando et al .: Radioprotection 2024 , 59 ( 4 ), 261 – 269 Fig . 1 . General view of the 24 th Dialogue meeting .
importance of developing an adequate governance framework to accompany the recovery process .
2 Experiences with the young generation in the Ethos Project and the Core Programme in Belarus
Following the Chernobyl accident , there have been significant changes in the population in the contaminated territories in Belarus . Many villages have been abandoned or even destroyed and buried due to the severe contamination , leading to permanent relocation of the local communities . In other villages , despite a significant level of the environmental contamination people have been authorized to stay subject to the implementation of protective actions by the public authorities ( ICRP , 2020 ). In this context , the inhabitants of the contaminated territories , and more particularly the younger generations , find themselves faced with a dilemma : to live in a contaminated territory or to leave it . It should be noted that most of these territories were located in rural areas and there was a general trend towards rural exodus since the 1980s . In fact , the younger generations , particularly following rehousing , preferred to live in urban areas benefiting from greater comfort and access to more services and shops . However , the economic crisis that hit Belarus in the mid-1990s changed the attractiveness of cities : it often became easier and cheaper for the inhabitants of rural villages to feed themselves thanks to their vegetable gardens and livestock .
In this context , the ETHOS project was set up by a group of French experts in the mid-1990s , 10 yr after the Chernobyl accident , to initiate a dialogue with the inhabitants of the contaminated territories who had chosen to stay there , in order to improve their protection against radiation but also to implement actions to improve their living conditions . The project started in the village of Olmany , in the South of Belarus close to the Ukrainian boarder , and was then extended to the whole district of Stolyn from 1996 to 2001 at the request of the authorities ( Hériard Dubreuil , 1999 ). Given the internationally recognized results obtained , a large-scale cooperation programme was set up at the end of the Project from 2003 to 2008 named CORE in the contaminated districts of Stolyn , Bragin , Slavgorod and Chechersk with the aim to develop local projects in an integrated approach covering radiological monitoring , health care , economic and social development ,
Fig . 2 . Young mothers working on measurement results .
education of children and young people and transmission of the memory of the Chernobyl disaster ( UNDP , 2002 ). Among the few projects developed with local actors during the ETHOS Project and more than one hundred projects in the CORE Programme , several have been carried out with young people .
2.1 The young mother group in Olmany
At the beginning of the ETHOS Project , the main concern of the inhabitants of the village of Olmany , particularly young mothers , was about the health of children . No practical information allowed them to understand where the radioactivity was and how it exposed their children , and even less what the possible impact of this radioactivity on the children ’ s health could be . A group of young mothers was rapidly formed with the support of the experts to understand and share information on the presence of radioactivity in the village . Measurement campaigns were organized and the results shared and discussed in order to identify protective measures that could enable them to reduce the daily exposure of their children ( Fig . 2 ). Gradually , young mothers established the link between the food contamination of their children and the internal contamination measurements ( whole body measurement ) carried out at school by the health authorities . They were thus able to discuss with health professionals and seek with them possible actions to improve the situation . One of the main results of the creation of this group of young mothers , beyond a significant drop in the internal contamination of children , was to set up a network within the village allowing them to exchange information concerning the radiological quality of the products and to agree on protection criteria which continued after the project ( Lochard , 2013 ).
2.2 The young teachers group in Olmany
When the first results of the radiological situation in the village were better known , the teachers of the school of Olmany mobilized to develop with their pupils a practical culture of radiological protection . They were indeed particularly motivated by the fact of sharing with them the information concerning the radioactive contamination of the village with the idea that the latter will be transmitted quickly to