Government sets main areas of youth policy

According to Minister of Religious Affairs and Civil Society Nurlan Yermekbayev, over the past decade Kazakhstan has developed legal and conceptual framework for youth policy and established all required infrastructure. Departments for youth affairs and youth resource centers have been operating across the country since 2012.

This work enabled Kazakhstan to rank the 61^st in Global Youth Development Index 2016, which evaluated 183 countries.  

The further work is planned to base on five topical areas with expert evaluations and recommendations taken into account.

The first area is to continue efforts aimed at reducing capacity gap between the rural and urban youth, youth socialization and recreation. It is therefore proposed to draft a national youth movement with such key areas as volunteering development, sporting and artistic achievements, and work skills.

It is additionally proposed to expand the network of simple outdoor sport facilities (street workout), yard clubs and other forms of low-cost mass youth involvement in sports and creativity, using the PPP mechanisms.

The second area is to develop social mobility means by improving the prestige of military service. Another social mobility tool is creative associations and unions, which should identify gifted persons and contribute to their personal development.

Additionally proposed area is to award Daryn state youth prize annually, thus stimulating and expanding opportunities for gifted youth.

The third area is to support young families. For this purpose, the government offers to launch “Family Hour” nationwide campaign for the parents, which  will be held in one of spring days at all schools of the country with the participation of experienced psychologists and other experts.

The fourth area is to develop potential of governmental officials working with the youth.  The methodological fra,ework for the youth resources centers will be updated in compliance with the new objectives set. The Youth Scientific-Research Center will continue to organize workshops and trainings for professionals working with young people.

The last area includes strengthened interdepartmental coordination.  It was proposed to hold a meeting of the Presidential Youth Policy Council in Q1 2017. All governmental structures are recommended to actively join the work of coordination council for the youth organizations’ development. There is also need to intensify the work of regional youth affairs councils with the consideration of the most pressing issues of the youth, and to regularly report on progress in implementing youth related projects at the Government meetings.