Field research in the regions of Kazakhstan

The SDG Secretariat employees conducted field research in the regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Experts interviewed children and parents and discussed the methodology of the budget for children with local executive bodies.

From September 12 to 29, employees of the Sustainable Development Goals Secretariat of Economic Research Institute JSC (ERI) carried out field work in a number of regions and cities of Kazakhstan: conducted in-depth interviews with parents and children and discussed the methodology of the budget for children with local executive bodies. The results of the interviews will be taken into account when finalizing the development of the Child Welfare Assessment Index in the Republic of Kazakhstan by the end of this year.

The research was conducted in Kyzylorda, Mangystau, Kostanay, Pavlodar, Turkestan, Almaty, Atyrau regions, as well as in Nur-Sultan, Shymkent and Almaty. 

Experts talked with parents and children in the regions to test the survey indicators of the project of the Child Welfare Assessment Index in Kazakhstan.

Based on the results of the research, the staff drew conclusions about a number of general trends in the regions.

• In elementary school classes, children attend additional clubs and sections to a greater extent than in high school. 

The main reasons for the lack of employment of children with additional education:

- workload of some parents at work (in large families, the older child looks after the younger ones);

- high workload with homework;

- distance from the place of residence.

• Parents of children of rural schools in almost all regions expressed a desire to open development centers to consolidate the acquired knowledge at school, to create extension courses in cities.

• Almost all children note that they read additional books, but when answering clarifying questions, they have difficulties. Therefore, it seems that many children practically do not read books. 

• In rural settlements, interviewers note the absence of children's playgrounds and sports grounds, places for children's leisure (parks, squares, family cafes, cinemas, and so on). Many parents are forced to occasionally take their children to a district or regional center for leisure activities.

ERI experts point out that funding is one of the main factors in achieving child well-being. The introduction of a budget for children will make it possible to systematically assess government spending aimed at the needs of children and assess their effectiveness.

"The implementation of such a new initiative as the "Budget for Children" is due to the fragmentation of information on the development of childhood, including funding. In addition, the Kazakhstani Child Welfare Index and the budget for children will be interconnected. One of the index indicators will reflect the share of the budget for children in the local budget”, the SDG Secretariat employees said.

They also reported that during the discussion of the draft Rules for drawing up and providing a budget for children, local executive bodies in the fields of economy, education, health, social protection, culture, sports, housing and communal services, transport and security gave their practical comments and suggestions on the methodology of budget formation for children.

Representatives of local executive bodies of the regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan generally support the idea of forming a budget for children, which will serve as an analytical tool when planning expenditures for the needs of the younger generation.

"The introduction of a budget for children will not entail drastic changes in the current budget process. Representatives of local executive bodies do not see any difficulties in allocating expenses to the younger generation, with the exception of housing and communal services, transport and security", the experts added.

Along with the methodology for forming the budget for children, the participants discussed the draft methodology of Criteria for assessing the effectiveness of public spending on children.

Three blocks are included in the Criteria:

- block "Quality of budget planning for children" (50%),

- block "Budget utilization" (30%),

- block "Socio-economic efficiency" (20%).

As a result of the calculation of indicators for three blocks, the final integral indicator of the effectiveness of government spending on children will be calculated.

According to the results of the discussions, representatives of local executive bodies agreed on the criteria for the effectiveness of state spending on children and their specific weights.

"In the conditions of the "new reality", when social instability is increasing, the measures of the Government of Kazakhstan to determine the well-being of children are timely. And, as world practice shows, in the absence of appropriate measures, adults who were exposed to adverse conditions in early childhood have an average annual income about a third less than their peers. These individual losses are coming together in society, limiting capital accumulation and undermining national income", ERI experts concluded.

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At the fourth meeting of the National Council of Public Trust, the President of Kazakhstan - Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev announced the need to develop and implement from 2022 a national monitoring mechanism - the Child Welfare Index. 

Economic Research Institute 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 Welfare Index. The United Nations Children's Fund in the Republic of Kazakhstan (UNICEF) provides technical support to the project. 

The Kazakhstani Child Welfare Index will allow to determine how well Kazakhstani children are in general and in certain areas. It will be possible to monitor the effectiveness of national policy in different areas in the context of regions and clearly demonstrate how the quality of life of children is changing, point out 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 number of public discussions with parents, NGO representatives, experts, educators and other interested parties. As a result, the initial set of indicators was finalized and supplemented taking into account the suggestions and comments of the public.

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 the Economic Research Institute JSC, held a second round of discussions on the revised draft of the Index Methodology.

See also: The SDGs Secretariat presented the Kazakhstan Draft Methodology of budget formation for children