Inclusive Development

Development can be inclusive – and reduce poverty – only if all groups of people contribute to creating opportunities, share the benefits of development and participate in decision-making. The Country Office in Kazakhstan helps national partners design and implement inclusive development policies and programmes. Drawing on its wide international experience, UNDP provides policy advice in areas such as women economic empowerment, mainstreaming disability issues across public institutions, empowering oralman communities, building capacities for entrepreneurship and generating economic and employment opportunities, supporting NGOs and CBOs in providing community services, introduction of the principles of corporate social responsibility and promoting responsible business practices and such. We help develop the capacity of the central and local governments to formulate strategies and policies that stimulate pro-poor growth, reduce poverty and achieve the MDGs.

FOCUS AREAS

Within the limits of equitable cooperation in the priority tasks designated in the program for 2010-2015, the Governance and Local Development Team (GLD) operates in the following thematic areas:

1. Partnership for development targeting at encouraging new corporate ethics among entrepreneurs, involvement of the private sector into society development issues as well as advocating the ideas of “global compact” initiated by the UN Secretary General.

2. Social inclusion aiming at improvement of the social services provision for vulnerable groups of population; social integration and mainstreaming the rights of the most marginalized groups such as persons with disabilities and repatriates; increasing the capacity to analyze, monitor and mitigate social risks faced by vulnerable groups and improve their economic opportunities

3. Human security focusing on building business capacities of rural entrepreneurs, generating economic and employment opportunities through micro-leasing and microfinance programmes, supporting NGOs and CBOs in providing community services

4. Area based development. UNDP helps national partners to assess their development needs, monitor progress, and achieve their goals, developing the capacities of various stakeholders to collect and analyze the information necessary to make the right decisions and to translate that insight into the best policies.

ON-GOING PROJECTS:

Over the past decade, Kazakhstan has received many ethnic Kazakhs (oralmans) returning to the historical homeland. Social adaptation is one of the acute problems encountered by oralmans. The project “Supporting Vulnerable Groups in Kazakhstan through Economic and Social Integration of Oralmans in Semipalatinsk Region” is being implemented by Semey city administation with the support of UNDP and UNV. The Centre for Adaptation and Social Integration launched in Semey city annually helps some 1.000 oralmans to learn languages (Kazakh and Russian), and human rights fundamentals, strategic planning, and to develop their leadership capacity, etc.
Within the framework of the joint UNDP and Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund project “Combating Regional Disparities For MDG Acceleration in Kazakhstan” support is rendered to the territories affected by the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site to better address the country’s local development policy formulation, planning, budgeting and implementation system for public goods and services. Executive and representative arms of local governments of the selected districts in need receive targeted support to promote participatory local planning and pro-poor budgeting.
While the general economic situation and the attention to human rights has improved the issue regarding the rights of persons with disabilities is generally left unattended. The Government of Kazakhstan has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is considering ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention. In this context, UNDP provides support to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population within the project “Strengthening the Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities and Development of Special Social Services Provision System”, with cofinancing from Government of Kazakhstan and the UK Embassy. This cooperation includes an in-depth study of challenges encountered by people with disabilities, and the subsequent formulation of a national program for social inclusion of people with disabilities.
Taking into account common sector and geographical priorities of development, UNDP and the Government of Finland have started a long term partnership in trade-related development assistance to countries of Western CIS, South Caucasus and Central Asia. The project aims to foster economic growth in the region through promotion of trade and the enhancement of each country’s competitiveness. In Kazakhstan the project is implemented in East-Kazakhstan oblast. An analysis of the needs for enterpreneurship development and microfinancing, and for environmentally friendly technologies and green commodity production was carried out. Based on this the project will deliver consulting services for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) on trade, export and microfinancing issues in order to expend production and increase processing.
In late 2009, UNDP launched a three-year regional project “The Growing Inclusive Markets Initiative for Eastern Europe and the CIS” in Kazakhstan as a part of the global initiative to involve the private sector to address poverty related issues. Apart from Kazakhstan the project is implemented concurrently in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Uzbekistan in partnership with Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA). Rooted in the principles of UNDP’s Private Sector Development Strategy the Kazakhstani project advances the partnership with a wide range of beneficiaries in order to create inclusive markets, i.e. markets that include the poor on the supply side as employees, producers and business owners, and on the demand side as clients and customers.