Int'l standards and best practices in youth policy reviewed by state partners and UNICEF in Astana

Kazakh Parliament is working on the draft law on youth policy. The working group of the Majilis, which is drafting the law on youth policy, is eager to learn the best international standards and practices in youth policies in order to develop the most appropriate, progressive and responsive to the needs of youth in Kazakhstan. "We all know how important it is to make policies as much as possible on the basis on evidence - good knowledge of the situation, needs, aspirations and expectations of final beneficiaries - young people themselves. We all tried to contributed to this process - with studies, analyses, consultations with children, adolescents and youth, and reviewing the draft law by different experts," Deputy UNICEF Representative Radoslaw Rzehak said at the opening of the meeting, UNICEF Kazakhstan said. "Besides, the fact that this a very important process, this is also a learning exercise for other countries in the region. Kazakhstan is well ahead in this process of developing the youth policy, and other countries which have not yet started this process can learn from Kazakhstan's process", said Nina Ferencic of the UNICEF Regional Office for CIS and Central Eastern Europe. UNICEF brought Alex Farrow and Yael Ohana, two experts from the Youth Policy Labs organization based in Europe to facilitate the process of improving the draft law of Kazakhstan on the national youth policy. As part of the discussions, during the meeting Alex Farrow and Yael Ohana will review the current draft law on youth of Kazakhstan, present international trends and standards on youth policy. They will also share their views on the conceptualization of youth and evidence-based approach to youth policy development. The experts will have brainstorming sessions to build capacity and knowledge on international standards for your policy and strengthen Kazakhstan's process on youth law development. "Every country has a youth policy by design or by default. Our hope is that through developmental approach we can help stakeholders of youth sector in Kazakhstan to develop a youth policy by design that serves the needs of the young people in Kazakhstan," said Yael Ohana. "This process is very encouraging because it brings young people, parliamentarian, international agencies and Kazakhstan's youth NGOs to honestly address the challenges and complexities in the youth law development in the country. It is a long process but a good start, which we hope will result in a better law on youth policy and improve lives for young people in the long-term in Kazakhstan," said Alex Farrow of Youth Policy Labs.