Our major achievements

UNDP Kazakhstan provides an assistance in strengthening national capacity, coordinating and introducing effective interdepartmental measures to implement family and gender policies, expand women’s contribution to the national economy and introduce multisectoral approach to combat domestic violence. We supported a structural review and improvement of the National Machinery’s work on gender equality and structural transformation of public institutions to advance women’s participation in decision-making across all development sectors. As part of the wider work, within the process of SDG nationalization, we also supported the gender mainstreaming process of the Voluntary National Review.

Ongoing initiatives:

Supporting the Economic Empowerment of Afghan Women through Education and Training in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Comprehensive Programme in the field of gender equality, women’s empowerment and elimination of violence against women in Kazakhstan

Women's economic empowerment and opportunities through access to irrigation water and infrastructure in the Turkestan region of Kazakhstan

Spotlight Initiative

UNDP has provided the following assistance to the Government of Kazakhstan to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda:

• Adoption of the Laws “On state guarantees of the equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women” (2009-2009), “On prevention of the family abuse” (2000-2009), “On amendments to certain legislative acts concerning the matters of family and gender polices” (2017);
• Increasing the capacity of women and men judges during the modernization process of the judicial system and access to justice in Kazakhstan;
• Supporting the structural review and improvement of the National Women’s Machinery work on gender equality and structural transformation of public institutions to advance women’s participation and engagement in decision-making across all development sectors;
• Collecting and analysing the gender-disaggregated data on number of men and women in different governing positions in the regions of Kazakhstan, generate the recommendations on improving the system of public administration in the Republic of Kazakhstan by identifying structural challenges for women in civil service;
• Supporting the Country Coordinating Mechanism in work with International organizations on HIV-infection and Tuberculosis, capacitate the members of the CCM on advocacy oт gender equality issues;
• Strengthening Community Resilience and Regional Cooperation for Prevention of Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism in Central Asia, particularly capacitating young men and women on leadership opportunities, and dealing with inequalities, sexual and gender-based violence;
• Capacity building among police-officers on prevention mechanisms and response to gender-based violence through the Development Solution Partnership for sharing Korea’s development experience;
• Promoting programs on social integration and inclusion, particularly engaging women and children with disabilities;
• Addressing gender pay gap, structural inequalities in labour market and unpaid care and domestic work;
• Engaging CSOs, academia, private and public entities in building a national SDGs Platform, and informing on gender equality priorities across the SDGs; 
• Promoting women and girls in STEM’;
• Addressing gender inequalities in energy sector.

Way forward

In 2018, Kazakhstan submitted its fifth periodic report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Despite the recognition of Kazakhstan’s achievements in protecting the rights of women, children and eradicating violence, the Committee recommended to:

• improve the quality of public services provided to survivors of domestic violence;
• improve the effectiveness of state measures to prevent domestic violence;
• create programs and information campaigns at local and national level aimed at promoting harmonious family relationships and preventing domestic violence;
• improve the preparedness of state bodies for the implementation of normative legal acts in the area of preventing domestic violence;
• increase the number of state shelters offering services to survivors of domestic violence;
• address the gaps in national legislation and regulatory frameworks related to preventing domestic violence;
• improve the level of collaboration among public organizations, NGOs and state bodies in identifying and responding to domestic violence and supporting the survivors.