On May 17, 2021, a regular meeting was held to discuss the draft Methodology for assessing the Kazakhstan Child Well-being Index.
The discussion focused on the safety of public transport, the quality of school meals, access to clean water in rural areas, mechanisms for protecting children and taking their views into account through focus groups. During the online meeting, the questions raised were mentioning issues on children with special educational needs, schools with three-shift education, and premature babies.
The meeting was attended by representatives of non-governmenta.organizations in the field of education, the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, the public association "Union of Fathers" and others.
Khalida Azhigulova, Doctor of Law, national coordinator and a qualified trainer of the United Nations, put forward the problems of bullying and cyberbullying, the quality of school meals, the safety of public transport and the state of school toilets.
Azhigulova noted the importance of considering the views of the children themselves through focus groups. In her opinion, this will increase the effectiveness of implemented social programs and services provided for them, as well as help to assess the well-being of a particular child.
Botagoz Akhmetova, a leading researcher at the National Academy of Education named after I. Altynsarin, outlined the problems of access to clean water in certain rural regions and noted the problems of children registered in law enforcement agencies.
Ilyas Adilbayev, Director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law branch, suggested adding a domain on child protection mechanisms to the Index and developing appropriate indicators for it.
Tatyana Savitskaya, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Karaganda, took an active part in the discussion of the draft Index. She highly appreciated the presentation and suggested taking into account the field sociological research.
Maksutbek Aitmaganbet from the public association "Union of Fathers" focused on the use of only relevant indicators related to the physical and psychological health of children, road safety, school toilets and other important indicators of well-being.
The child Welfare index will be implemented in Kazakhstan from 2022 on behalf of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The introduction of the index will allow us to assess the quality of life of children and measure the approximate level of child well-being in the country.
