Project of the KCHI methodology

From June 8 to 11, 2021, the Committee for the Protection of Children's Rights of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan together with Economic Research Institute JSC held the second round of discussion of the revised draft Methodology of the index of well - being of children of Kazakhstan (hereinafter-the Index).

On June 8, a meeting was held with the participation of experts and non-governmenta.organizations in the field of child well-being.

During the discussion, Dinara Kussain, an expert on child safety and family development, noted the importance of indicators on child trauma and mental well-being of children.

Shynar Abdrakhmanova, Chief Specialist of the Department of Science and Professional Development of the National Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, shared her experience in studying the issues of childhood obesity and the consumption of vegetables and fruits by children.

From June 9 to 11, meetings were held with the participation of local executive bodies, teachers and parents from all regions of Kazakhstan. The participants of the meeting were introduced to the new set of Index indicators, which were formed taking into account the comments and suggestions of the public during the first round of discussions and voting.

At the same time, additional proposals for improving the index are received from the public. For example, the deputy head of the Department for Motherhood and Childhood of Turkestan region, Nurkhan Narymbetova, shared her experience of conducting a sociological study on the well-being of children in the Turkestan region. The expert noted that 65 % of parents in the region do not buy their children books and encyclopedias for additional education.

The events were held in an online format on the ZOOM platform.

At the fourth meeting of the National Council of Public Trust the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that it is necessary to develop and implement a national monitoring mechanism – the Index of Child Well-being-starting from 2022. 

Economic Research Institute under the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with the Committee for the Protection of Children's Rights of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is developing a draft methodology for calculating the Kazakhstani Child Well-being Index. The United Nations Children's Fund in the Republic of Kazakhstan (UNICEF) provides technical support to the project. 

Kazakhstan Child Well-being Index will help determine how well-off Kazakhstan's children are in general and in certain areas. It will be possible to track the effectiveness of the national policy in different areas in the context of the regions and clearly demonstrate how the quality of life of children is changing, to point out the problem areas in their well-being.

Since May 11, 2021, as part of the first round of discussions, the developers of the Index project have held a series of public discussions with parents, NGO representatives, experts, educators and other stakeholders. As a result, the initial set of indicators has been refined and supplemented, taking into accountthe suggestions and comments of the public. 

Recall that until June 20, 2021, on the platform of the Institute for Economic Research economy.kz the voting process for the Index indicators continues.

Based on the results of voting and public discussions, a set of indicators of the Index will be approved, which from 2022 will become a tool for monitoring the quality of life of children in the context of the regions of Kazakhstan.

Proposed indicators for assessing child well-being in Kazakhstan