Working group meeting

On February 18, 2021, the first meeting of the interdepartmental working group (hereinafter - IWG) in the People direction was held online.

Opening the meeting, Akmadi Sarbasov, First Vice-Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to as the MLSPP), noted the special significance of the People IWG during a pandemic.

The speaker reported on the main results of the department's work in 2020 as part of the implementation of the SDGs and commitments in the field of poverty eradication (SDG No.1) in Kazakhstan.  In particular, during the pandemic, targeted social assistance covered more than 4 million Kazakhstanis for a total of 476 billion tenge, which is an unprecedented financial assistance for the country. In addition, more than 1.1 million citizens were provided with food packages.

Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture (hereinafter - the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan) reported on the implementation of SDG 2 “Zero Hunger” - namely, measures to support farmers.  According to the announced data, the instrument of guaranteeing loans from 50-80% of the total loan amount is actively developing, due to which the total volume of food production in 2020 increased by 4%. Currently, the overall provision with domestic food products is more than 80%, which is part of the country's food security. However, according to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, import dependence on some types of food products (poultry meat, fish, sausages, apples, sugar, milk powder) is still high - this issue will be resolved in the near future.

Responsible for Goal # 3, "Good health and well-being", the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, reported on the work done during the reporting period. According to the presented report, work is being actively carried out on the detection and treatment of HIV on a free basis, screening of the population, immunization and other work.

In turn, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan presented the results of work on Goal No. 4 "Quality Education". So in 2020, schoolchildren were provided with 780 thousand units of computers, more than 2500 units of warm toilets were installed in schools, 100% of schools and kindergartens are provided with video surveillance, work is underway to create an inclusive education condition (61.6% of preschoo.organizations, 78.8  % of schools, 45% of colleges and 30% of universities have conditions for inclusive education). The status of a teacher has been raised, and teachers' salaries have increased by 50% compared to last year.

At the end of the event, the leadership of the working group thanked the participants for the work done. The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals of the ISWG "People" will continue in 2021.