Volunteering became part of Kazakhstan’s civic culture, expert says

According to Mironyuk, both the number of volunteers and the level of their engagement in social projects have grown steadily in recent years. More than 350,000 people are currently involved in volunteer activities across the country, while projects themselves are becoming more structured and long-term.

She noted that official statistics are compiled jointly with local authorities, executive bodies and a network of volunteer front offices operating throughout Kazakhstan.

“If after the COVID-19 pandemic we saw a certain decline, with the number of volunteers standing at around 200,000, compared to about 150,000 earlier, we are now seeing growth,” she said.

Mironyuk stressed that the increase is not limited to the number of volunteers. The amount of time individuals dedicate to community service has also risen significantly.

“The number of hours contributed by each volunteer has doubled. In other words, people have moved into more systematic and longer-term projects, and that is also important to take into account,” she explained.

Social, environmental and event volunteering remain the most popular areas of engagement. At the same time, corporate and sector-specific volunteering initiatives are also gaining momentum. According to the National Volunteer Network, the number of volunteer organizations has expanded substantially in recent years. While Kazakhstan had 224 volunteer organizations in 2020, that figure reached 810 in 2025.

Mironyuk also outlined the social profile of Kazakh volunteers. Although volunteering is often viewed globally as a predominantly female activity, she said the gender gap in Kazakhstan remains minimal.

“Globally, volunteering is often considered to have a female face. In Kazakhstan, the difference is only around 3%. There are only slightly fewer men involved,” she noted.

According to her, long-term social projects are most often supported by people aged 32 and older, while younger volunteers, typically aged 21 and above, are more likely to participate in event-based and short-term activities.

“A particular source of pride for Kazakhstan is our silver volunteers — people aged 60–65 and older who actively engage in public service. Alongside them, pro bono volunteering is also developing, with lawyers, doctors, teachers and other professionals providing assistance within their fields on a voluntary basis,” Mironyuk said.

She noted that measuring the contribution of such volunteers can be difficult, particularly when it comes to tracking how many hours a professional spends providing free support to families or vulnerable groups. Nevertheless, such efforts demonstrate the value of volunteering beyond formal statistics.

“Volunteering in Kazakhstan is gradually moving beyond one-off campaigns and becoming part of a sustainable civic culture. Whereas several years ago volunteers were mainly engaged in major events, today more and more Kazakhstanis participate in long-term social, environmental and educational projects. The country now has a National Volunteer Front Office and 20 regional front offices coordinating volunteer activities nationwide. The state is gradually creating conditions for the recognition and development of volunteerism. As participation expands, volunteers have greater incentives to formally record their contributions. In this sense, we can speak about a positive ‘legalization’ process: volunteer activity is becoming more transparent, officially recognized and encouraged,” she said.

One of the key trends in 2026 has been the digitalization of the volunteer sector. In January, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev supported the idea of introducing a digital volunteer passport, emphasizing that the volunteer movement should develop alongside the country’s technological transformation.

Several digital initiatives are already being introduced at the regional level. In Almaty, local authorities have announced plans to launch a new volunteering model incorporating gamification elements. The initiative would include a digital system for tracking volunteer achievements and an internal motivational currency known as Volu-Coins.

Experts believe that expanding digital platforms will help make volunteering more transparent and systematic. It could also enable authorities to better assess volunteers’ contributions to the social sector and develop unified support mechanisms for active citizens.

Kazakhstan is also actively promoting the volunteer agenda internationally. At the country’s initiative, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2026 the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic and major flooding events in recent years, volunteering in Kazakhstan is increasingly viewed not only as support for public events, but also as an important component of community resilience and emergency response systems.

As Qazinfrom reported earlier, an international forum on The Contribution of Women Volunteers to the Development of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Türkiye was held at the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Azerbaijan.