PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020

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PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
The focus of the United Nations system is to support the 
Government in sustaining existing positive results in the 
social sector, while addressing remaining disparities. 
It will put evidence-based policymaking into practice, 
and affirm access to minimum guarantees of social 
protection by improving the national Social Protection 
Floor (SPF). This will include access to services for 
women, youth, children and vulnerable groups: 
persons with disabilities, migrants and members of 
their families, victims of trafficking, refugees, asylum 
seekers and stateless persons, and those who inject 
drugs. 
This will require efforts: (1) to further promote youth 
civic participation and empowerment, and to develop 
national and sub-national youth policies in line with 
international standards, while promoting life skills-
based education (both formal and informal), and 
supporting the development of youth-centred services, 
to improve the quality of social protection services, 
especially in rural areas; (2) to create a barrier-free 
environment for persons with disabilities; (3) to focus 
on reform of care and protective systems, to effectively 
respond to multiple factors affecting child vulnerability, 
sub-national differences in equality, and income-based 
inequities; and (4) to advocate for increased social 
sector spending, including domestic funding of HIV 
programmes. 
Social Protection Floor Assessment Based National 
Dialogue (SPF ABND) – conducted across Asia with 
the participation of national stakeholders as well as 
various UN agencies – can be used to prioritize areas 
of the national social protection system for further 
intervention, and to provide a comprehensive overview 
of the social protection situation in Kazakhstan.
The United Nations system aims to foster lifelong 
learning opportunities for all, including peacebuilding 
and global citizenship through education. Given the 
particular challenges facing the health sector and the 
country’s aspiration to see its health indicators match 
those of the most developed countries, the UNCT will 
provide technical assistance to strengthen Kazakhstan’s 
governance for health. It will use inter-sectoral and 
multisectoral mechanisms, to ensure that all Government 
policies consider the impact on public health. At the 
same time, the approach will help to mobilize society 
around commonly agreed goals, addressing health 
inequities. The UNCT will offer technical advice and 
services, to ensure attainment of universal health 
coverage goals. These will particularly focus on the 
major burden of NCDs, including health promotion 
campaigns, addressing the four key risk factors for 
NCDs. The UNCT will work to build capacity to reduce 
these risks, and to promote understanding of mental 
health issues, to try and prevent suicidal behaviours in 
children and adolescents, while enhancing the scope 
and quality of public mental health services. It will aim to 
address the burden of tuberculosis, and further improve 
maternal and reproductive health. The team will support 
the development of mechanisms to protect vulnerable 
population groups from catastrophic health expenditure, 
including provision of technical advice for the design and 
realization of appropriate health financing mechanisms. 
It will also advise on the creation of efficient, integrated, 
people-centred health services. 

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PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
Targeted surveys will be undertaken to identify key 
socio-economic determinants for public health threats, 
including NCDs, so that health strategies can be 
tailored towards underlying inequities. The aim is to 
give the most vulnerable groups and individuals equal 
public access to evidence-based, good quality health 
services. This should lead to stronger, people-centred, 
coordinated and integrated health services, focusing 
on primary health care, managed care for chronic 
diseases, and increased availability and accessibility 
of mental health services. Support will be given to the 
development of policies, standards and practices for 
drug prevention, treatment, care and rehabilitation, 
using a human rights-based and evidence-informed 
approach.
United Nations agencies committed to providing 
support under this Outcome include UNAIDS, UNESCO, 
UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, UN Women, WHO, 
and the IOM (as a partner organization). Among 
national partners are the Ministry of Health and Social 
Development, the Ministry of Education and Science, the 
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior; these 
ensure the availability of health, social, education and 
legal services for the population and set standards for 
services. The Ministry of Health and Social Development 
and the future Health Insurance Fund will play major 
roles in monitoring health-related indicators and in 
designing legislation/regulations to remove barriers 
(including being ‘pro-poor’), particularly with regard 
to protecting the public from financial risk relating to 
health expenditure. 
Outcome 1.2:
 Economic diversification, 
to provide decent work opportunities for 
the underemployed, youth and socially 
vulnerable women and men
An inclusive pattern of economic growth will be vital in 
determining Kazakhstan’s economic sustainability and 
human development. In particular, knowledge-based 
economic growth will be prioritized to help create a 
private sector-driven, diversified and resilient economy, 
with competitive industrial/manufacturing, agricultural 
and service sectors. Well-designed diversification 
policies, including in the spheres of employment, will 
contribute to increased demand for human capital 
investment in youth and adults. By offering more 
and better work opportunities in formal, recognized 
employment, the population will gain enhanced well-
being. The nature and location of high-productivity 
jobs must be disseminated, and flexibility of labour 
is essential, to allow workers to move from low-
productivity jobs to high. Where service delivery and 
economic growth polices are diversified and targeted, it 
will be easier for Kazakhstan to make a smooth transition 
to a fully inclusive, equitable and sustainable economy. 
Such strategies support SDGs, particularly: Goal 1 (End 
poverty in all its forms, everywhere); Goal 8 (Promote 
sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, 
full and productive employment, and decent work for 
all); Goal 9 (Build resilient infrastructure, promote 
inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster 
innovation); and Goal 10 (Reduce inequality within and 
between countries). 
To achieve these goals, Kazakhstan must, over the 
medium to long term, reorient and adapt its growth 
strategies towards an investment-based economy, with 
innovative, highly productive and more market-oriented 
approaches. It should simultaneously recognize the 
need to incorporate the ‘green’ economy model into its 
prospective economic paradigm, and improve climatic 
adaptive capacity, especially in the agricultural sector.
The United Nations system offers comparative 
advantages across a wide range of economic areas, 
encompassing elements of inclusive and sustainable 
growth that are both employment-driven and ‘pro-
poor’. It supports youth, women and persons with 
disabilities – particularly those in rural areas – as 
priority target groups, given their substantial economic 
disadvantage and their specific potential for value chain 
development at grassroots level in the sphere of organic 
agriculture. 
The United Nations system has specific expertise in 
improving the business environment, developing both 
‘hard’ and ‘soft’ infrastructure as prerequisites to high 
levels of economic activity and economic diversification. 
It supports private sector involvement and aims to help 
enterprises attract investment (particularly industrial 
firms) by helping them become more competitive. 
The UNCT will continue to assist the Employment Road 
Map 2020 and will help in making public employment 
services more responsive to the changing labour 
market. Particular support will focus on the elaboration 
and adoption of an Action Plan for Youth Employment, 
to expand employability and decent work opportunities 
for youth. Meanwhile, the UNCT will support a 
comprehensive review of youth employment policy, 
aiming to promote more evidence-based policymaking. 
With regard to youth and employment, the United 
Nations system can offer collective experience in 
promoting enhanced national capacities to develop 
gender-sensitive strategies. Strengthening mechanisms 
for promoting youth entrepreneurship, particularly 
for young women, is a priority of a gender-sensitive 
approach in private sector development.