PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020

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PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
2.3. PILLAR 2: STRENGTHENED 
AND INNOVATIVE PUBLIC 
INSTITUTIONS
Outcome 2.1: 
Rights holders benefit from 
improved Government policymaking 
and implementation through enhanced 
participation at sub-national and national 
levels 
Outcome 2.2: 
Judicial and legal systems and 
public institutions are fair, accountable and 
accessible to all  
‘KAZAKHSTAN 2050’ GOALS:
• 
A strong, transparent and inclusive economic and 
political institutional capacity that supports the 
effective management of the economy and the well-
being of all people of Kazakhstan
• 
A decentralized governmental structure which 
provides for the essential needs of Kazakhstan’s 
people in an empowered and accountable manner
Outcome 2.1: 
Rights holders benefit from 
improved Government policymaking 
and implementation through enhanced 
participation at sub-national and national 
levels
The continued evolution of effective institutional public 
service capacities, at both central and local levels, is 
vital to Kazakhstan sustaining its development gains. 
While progress in such capacities has been notable in 
recent years, important challenges remain, including 
with regard to issues of transparency, accountability, 
participation, and rights-based approaches to 
development. Among the SDGs, Goal 5 (Achieve 
gender equality and empower all women and girls), 
Goal 10 (Reduce inequality within and between 
countries) and Goal 16 (Promote peaceful and inclusive 
societies for sustainable development, providing access 
to justice for all, and building effective, inclusive and 
accountable institutions, at all levels) will be particularly 
emphasized.
In strengthening effective and accountable governance 
and achieving progress on the rights and equality 
agenda, the Government and the United Nations 
system recognize the need for capacity development 
at systemic, institutional and individual levels. In this 
regard, the UNCT will promote a whole-Government 
approach, to achieve mutually reinforcing Outcomes 
across the rule of law and the administration of 
justice. Above all, the ‘Government for the people’ 
concept will be systematically prioritized within all UN 
activities. 
Priority will be given not only to individual skills but 
to embedding institutional attitudes and behaviours 
that emphasize principles of effective and accountable 
public services. It will be necessary to establish indicators 
and measures to allow national commitments to be 
evaluated. Meanwhile, mechanisms are needed to 
help share technologies, expertise and knowledge, to 
enhance capacities, within a rational, robust, transparent 
and stable legal and regulatory environment. 
The United Nations system is committed to building 
partnerships within existing structures, clarifying 
roles and responsibilities, to ensure more effective 
development policies, decision-making and service 
delivery. Through institutional capacity development, 
it seeks to assist in creating social cohesion, including 
supporting efforts between the Government and the 
people, to improve the inclusiveness of governance. 
The UNCT will work to reinforce stability via enhanced 
systems of local governance, using a human rights-
based approach, and promoting local participation in 
decision-making processes.
Civil society is an indispensable partner in achieving 
national development goals, with non-Government 
organizations countrywide helping convey the voices 
of various segments of society, through peaceful social 
dialogue. Engagement with civil society actors and 
organizations will be based on their independence (of 
domestic and foreign governments), their accountability 
to constituents, and their effectiveness as agents of 
positive social change – from the perspective of poor 
and other disadvantaged groups. Work with civil society 
will not be considered as a separate domain but, rather, 
as part of an overall approach to bring state and society 
together, which is intrinsic to human development. 
The UNCT offers complementary capacity development 
responses: support for a comprehensive and 
coordinated approach to Government policymaking 
in the transition period to a ‘green’ economy (see 
Pillars 1 and 3); strengthened work with Parliament; 
and help in assessing Government effectiveness. 
Support for enhanced decentralization will include 

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PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT, KAZAKHSTAN, 2016-2020
assistance in forming more effective local government 
systems, through capacity development and expanded 
opportunities.
An important opportunity exists for the UNCT to 
build capacity for a human rights-based approach 
to development, specifically empowering women, 
youth/children and vulnerable groups: persons with 
disabilities, people living with HIV, internal and external 
migrant workers, victims of trafficking, refugees, and 
stateless persons. Furthermore, it is uniquely situated 
to offer substantive support in implementing, reporting 
and monitoring Kazakhstan’s obligations under a range 
of international Conventions, treaties and agreements. 
This complements the Government’s constitutional 
international commitments to promote, protect and 
fulfil human rights, with a focus on building knowledge, 
capacities and skills to ensure a solid understanding of 
human rights standards and mechanisms to protect 
them.
Particular attention is to be given to further development 
of Government capacity in collecting disaggregated and 
sub-national data, with particular regard to gaps in social 
services data. The UNCT will promote the use of a more 
unified database for analysis, and the use of evidence-
based policy in forming effective development plans. 
This is especially critical given the disparities across the 
country, despite its middle-income status. Activities 
will be undertaken to improve capacity to compile and 
disseminate environmental-economic statistics – in 
particular, for water, energy and ecosystems. Attention 
will also be given to enhancing capacity for national 
reporting on sustainable forest management and its 
accountability systems. In highlighting and addressing 
data gaps, the UNCT can help the Government better 
implement United Nations programming principles: 
a human rights-based approach (improved data on 
vulnerable groups), gender equality principles (sex 
disaggregation, along with the nature, causes and 
impact of gender disparities), and environmental 
sustainability (data on climate change and disaster 
risk/resilience). The UNCT can also promote analytical 
reviewing, to better identify unmet needs among 
certain beneficiaries.
The UNCT will advocate for greater civil society 
involvement in health and social protection policy 
design, planning, implementation and monitoring, 
at national and sub-national levels – focusing on 
Mangystau, Kyzylorda and Eastern Kazakhstan for sub-
national policies. Similarly, civil society organizations, 
particularly those which are community-based, will be 
encouraged to become involved more meaningfully in 
developing HIV policies and services, in line with the 
needs of HIV-affected communities and populations 
at higher risk, while being respectful of their rights. 
Emphasis will be on developing a comprehensive, 
multisectoral approach, ensuring responsibility and 
accountability across non-health and health sectors, to 
help improve public health.
Meanwhile, the UNCT will continue its promotion 
of universal access to information and knowledge, 
of freedom of expression and of assembly. Specific 
support will be directed at national dialogue between 
Government and non-Government partners: on 
combating human trafficking, and on establishing 
a national referral mechanism to assist victims of 
trafficking, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless 
persons.
The UNCT can offer explicit capacity development 
opportunities for women, sharing international 
expertise in improving legal and policy frameworks 
aimed at protecting women’s human rights. The PFD 
aims to support national gender equality goals and 
commitments, focusing on integrated programming to 
address gender gaps and strengthen inter-ministerial 
and multisectoral coordination of actions relating 
to gender. This fulfils national goals, in addition to 
those of the United Nations Charter, the Millennium 
Declaration, the QCPR, the 2005 World Summit, the 
Beijing Platform for Action, and the Platform for Action 
of the International Conference for Population and 
Development. The PFD also feeds into the Convention 
for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against 
Women (CEDAW) and other international human 
rights treaties and instruments to which Kazakhstan is 
party. It aims to foster more effective and sustainable 
relations with development partners, to advance and 
monitor commitments to gender equality and women’s 
empowerment, while documenting good practice in 
achieving these goals.
Civic engagement is to be encouraged via the media and 
by promoting volunteerism, with the views of children 
considered equitably, by strengthening youth policies. 
Disadvantaged adolescents are to be particularly sought 
out for involvement in political, social and cultural life, 
taking part in volunteer community work.
United Nations agencies committed to supporting 
this Outcome include the OHCHR, UNDPI, UNESCO, 
UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNISDR, UNODC, UNV, 
WHO, and IOM (as a partner organization). National 
partners will include the President’s Administration, 
Parliament, national and sub-national public 
institutions, the Agency on Civil Service Affairs