ERI experts discuss Kazakhstan's draft of Social Code and the Digital Family Map in Astana

On Thursday, November 3, the conference "Modernization of the social protection system for families with children: key challenges and opportunities" brought together the representatives of central governmental bodies, national institutions, internationa.organizations and non-governmenta.organizations.

Among th.organizers of the event there were the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan and the Commissioner for Human Rights in Kazakhstan.

Yerbol Ospanov, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan opened the event:

Currently about two million citizens of the country are provided by social support measures. The work conducted by the Government has a positive impact on the country's demography. In this regard, the Head of State has instructed to strengthen support measures for families with children. Thus, the draft of the Social Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan are discussing the measures to increase the period of paid maternity leave up to 1.5 years, the launch of the programme "National Fund for Children" and many other innovations.

Bibigul Asylova, Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan: Internationa.organizations, in particular UNICEF, provide great support to the Government in promoting measures to improve the quality of life, so it is important to continue cooperation and adopt best practices.

Amir Umarov, Deputy Head of the National Centre for Human Rights:

Michaela Friberg - Storey, UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan: It is important to adhere to the Sustainable Development Goals, which through its universal roadmap allows building a more inclusive and sustainable society.

«"President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly noted that Kazakhstan will continue to adhere to the SDGs and fulfil its international commitments under the SDGs," the Speaker noted. . 

Arthur Van Diesen, UNICEF Representative in Kazakhstan:

William Zeitz, Senior Economist and Head of the World Bank’s Poverty and Equality Programme in Central Asia presented the results of the "Listening to Kazakhstan" survey. 

Thus, the majority of the surveyed population believes that the state is on the right track of socio-economic development.

«In Kazakhstan, the monetary poverty is only 5%, but according to the survey results 25% of respondents subjectively identify themselves as poor," the speaker noted.

Dulat Zhekebayev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Committee for Child Rights Protection of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, reported on activities in the development, testing and approval of the Child Wellbeing Index of Kazakhstan and presented some of the survey results.

«26% of parents cannot pay attention to their children because of the constant workload at work. On average 34% of local budgets are spent on children's needs. 44% of children have no access to public transport services» - said the speaker. 

Nataliya Belonosova, Director of the Labor and Living Standards Statistics Department of the Bureau of National Statistics, ASPR RK, presented the draft of the Multidimensional Child Poverty Index of Kazakhstan.

Multidimensional Child Poverty Index of Kazakhstan will assess aspects of children's lives that are not measured in monetary terms (access to health care, education, safety, living conditions, etc.). It is planned to cover more than 12,000 respondents from all regions of the country. The first results of the study will be presented in 2023.

Pamela Dale, Advisor to the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, shared the results of the study «Impact of the conflict in Ukraine on child poverty and children in Europe and Central Asia». . 

Dinara Zakiyeva, Member of the Majilis, spoke about the work being done to create a network of Family Support Centres, which would provide targeted social assistance to the population. It is planned that such centres will be opened in all regional centres of the country (more than 234 centres all over the country).

Special attention should be given to the plenary session entitled "The Future of Social Protection" where the draft of the Social Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the "Digital Family Map" were discussed».

Nursulu Kemel, General Director of JSC "State Social Insurance Fund" presented the draft of the Social Code of Kazakhstan.

The expert highlighted the main novelties of the Social Code and pointed out the necessity of explanation during the development and implementation of socially important documents.

The moderator of the plenary session Bakytgul Khambar, Director of SDC Secretariat, underlined that the "Economic Research Institute" also provided the developers with their proposals on improvement of the draft of the Social Code, many of which were adopted and reflected in the new version.

Baurzhan Nurzhaksinov, Deputy Director of the IS Development and Support Department for Social Assistance and Social Support of the JSC 'Centre for Workforce Development', presented the process of the project 'Digital Family Map».

An international expert, Lyudmila Kim, has been involved in the review of the draft of the Social Code. Ms. Kim presented her recommendations on the mechanism for further implementation of the draft of the Social Code.

«It is necessary to introduce a case management approach in social protection as the main approach in the provision of social services," said the international expert.

Summing up, Leticia Buzzi-Wale, Deputy Representative of UNICEF, noted that this is not the end of the work to discuss support to families with children, it is necessary to discuss the results of the study in future at similar forums with involvement of a wide range of experts.