The “Forest Restoration Improvement for Environmental Development and Sustainability in Central Asia” project, also known as FRIENDS, is being executed in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, under the auspices of the FAO-Türkiye Forestry Partnership Programme (FTFP). According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, approximately 70 per cent of the country is classified as degraded. Most of the affected areas consist of arid zones composed of saxaul forests, steppes and agricultural land. Land degradation is driven primarily by overgrazing and salinization. In saxaul forests, the main causes of degradation include fuelwood removal, charcoal production and livestock grazing. In support of the project’s activities, Project Manager Adem Bilgin and FAO Forestry Officer Peter Pechacek undertook a mission to Kazakhstan from 29 May to 1 June 2023, to assess needs for capacity-building initiatives and to visit potential pilot sites for the demonstration of restoration techniques. In addition, a meeting held with the National Project Coordinator (NPC) of the FRIENDS project in Kazakhstan provided an opportunity to update their counterpart on project progress. Bilgin and Pechacek assessed potential pilot sites in the Akmola region located within the premises of the State Enterprise “Republican Forest Breeding and Seed Centre” nursery. They also inspected potential pilot sites in the Almaty region. Both regions and relevant sites were suggested by the Kazakhstan authorities. As a result of their visit and assessment, Bilgin and Pechacek confirmed that the project is on course to achieve its objectives. Their mission also contributed to the planning of future activities.   About the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programmes The objectives of the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programmes are to provide support to ensure food security, rural poverty reduction and sustainable forest management; to combat desertification; and to preserve ecosystems in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and other countries of mutual interest. Established in 2007, the first phase of the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP) has benefited from trust fund contributions totalling USD 10 million, financed by the Government of Türkiye and represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. During the first phase of the programme, 28 projects were implemented in 16 countries between 2009 and 2015. In 2014, Türkiye and FAO commenced the second phase of the FTPP along with the first phase of the FAO-Türkiye Forestry Partnership Programme (FTFP), with additional funding of USD 20 million, bringing Türkiye’s total contribution to USD 30 million.   LINKS: Introductory Project Flyer FAO-Türkiye Forestry Programme gathers speed with Regional Inception Meeting for FRIENDS Project FAO Forestry Programme

The tour took place from June 5 to 8 and included participation in the third Regional Workshop on Integrated Community Development, which was held from June 6 to 8 in Budapest, Hungary. Several senior ministers and members of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan and representatives from academia and think-tanks made up the Kazakhstan delegation. The study tour showcased good practices in local rural development and agricultural cooperatives in Europe. Participants also had the opportunity to visit notable institutions, including the Ministry of Agriculture and the Parliament of Hungary, where they explored various topics such as rural development tools, enhancing cooperative processes, and improving access to public services, and infrastructure in rural areas. Kazakhstan’s representatives shared valuable insights and gained practical knowledge on increasing competitiveness, promoting entrepreneurship, and developing new types of economic activity in rural areas. They also learned about successful experiences in rural cooperative processes and strategies to enhance access to public services and improve social and economic infrastructure in rural areas. The highlight of the tour was the third Regional Workshop on integrated community development. This workshop provided a platform to discuss and present the main results of the FAO study on good practices in integrated community development and territorial approaches in Europe and Central Asia, currently in development. The workshop also facilitated the exchange of practical experiences, lessons learned, and different approaches to local rural development, including the EU LEADER approach for non-EU countries. During the workshop, Nurbolat Kurmetuly, director of the Quality-of-life department of the Economic Research Institute, and Galiya Akimbekova, Associate Professor, Deputy Chair of the Board of the Kazakh Research Institute of Economy of Agro-Industrial Complex and Rural Development, presented their findings on the rural development approaches in Kazakhstan. Their research is especially relevant in light of the recently approved government plan, the “Concept of rural development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2023–2027,” which aims to develop institutional support, improve the effectiveness of approaches to the development of rural areas, improve the quality of life, and create a comfortable living environment in rural areas. The study tour and workshop addressed the complex challenges faced by rural communities, smallholders, and family farmers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The integrated and cross-sectoral approach emphasized during the tour aligns with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting coordinated and coherent solutions for rural transformation, poverty reduction, and inclusive development. FAO remains committed to supporting local rural development and community development initiatives across the region. By strengthening partnerships with key regional and national actors, FAO continues to advance the concept of integrated community development.

Entitled "Kazakhstan’s experience in applying digitalisation and innovation to accelerate delivery on Generation Equality Forum’s Action Coalitions commitments,” the event was hosted on March 9, and was organized by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and National Commission for Women Affairs, Family and Demographic Policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan with support from UN Women Kazakhstan. During the side event, government representatives from Kazakhstan presented national achievements in fulfilling the commitments made at the Generation Equality Forum (GEF). In 2021, within the framework of the GEF, Kazakhstan joined two Action Coalitions to address Gender-Based Violence and advance Economic Justice and Rights followed by taking five commitments to close the gaps on gender equality. Kazakhstan’s commitments in the context of the GEF are based on President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s policy to end violence against women and girls and promote women’s economic empowerment. During the side event, Kazakhstan highlighted innovative digital approaches in designing and delivering on international promises on gender equality. One of the approaches highlighted was the regional community and virtual knowledge repository “Act for Equal”, a platform launched to share best practices on gender equality and prevention of violence against women and girls in Central Asia, supported by UN Women Kazakhstan. The community is for comprehensive discussions with the participation of representatives of various government agencies, parliamentarians, experts, and civil society from Central Asia and Afghanistan. Since 2021, the regional community of practice convened stakeholders, experts and activists to share their experience in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, as well as the women, peace and security and human rights and gender equality agendas in Central Asia. Thanks to the platform, around 1000 partners have strengthened cooperation and exchanged knowledge and skills. In addition, Kazakhstan invested in the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative Regional Programme for Central Asia and Afghanistan. Currently, Kazakhstan ranks 28th in the UN E-Government Development Index and 15th in the E-Participation Index among 193 countries. “Today Kazakhstan is at the forefront in using technological solutions that improve the quality of life of people. We are creating an ecosystem to enable innovations. The Astana Hub – our flagship for IT startups- offers generous tax incentives, visa support and other benefits to attract young and talented IT specialists from all over the world. The services include access to free acceleration courses with the participation of global mentors, courses in innovative IT schools. The proportion of female staff at the Astana Hub Technopark is 61%, with 63% of women in managerial positions. More than 30% of IT-school students are women,” said Bagdat Mussin, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan, in his opening speech. In order to use innovative and technological approaches, the government of Kazakhstan launched the Digital Family Social Card, designed to facilitate social support to vulnerable groups. The Digital Family Social Card is a digital platform that accumulates data from 24 government agencies, 30 data resources and determines the level of social well-being of citizens to proactively ensure the provision of government services. "This is a digital platform that presents a 'real picture' of those in need of assistance, and provides measures of state support, conducts constant monitoring of families in difficult situations. This allows us to see the family's problems and send them messages and push notifications with offers of support and services without bureaucracy," outlined Minister Mussin. UN Women supported the development of the digital platform specifically targeting early prevention and detection of violence within the family and by widening access to special social services for survivors of domestic violence. The methodology for identifying social risks can potentially become the basis for the process of preventing the onset of social risk, including any act of violence against women and identifying people in a difficult life situation. The Digital Social Card will assess and predict the level of vulnerability of the individual through gender-sensitive indicators in 4 areas: health care, education, social services, law enforcement agencies. Supporting women’s entrepreneurship Last year, 17 Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Centers (WEDCs) were launched in Kazakhstan across the country, giving women the opportunity to start or expand their businesses. This project of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs “Atameken” is supported by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the National Commission for Women Affairs, Family and Demographic Policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Government of Kazakhstan, UN Women, UNDP, and the Asian Development Bank. The centers, among other types of consultations on access to knowledge, finances and networks, also provides women with the necessary tools and knowledge to digitalize their businesses and establish them on e-commerce platforms. "The Women Entrepreneurship Development Centers provided a total of 26,386 different services to 9,000 women. A special feature of this project was the provision of services according to the needs of women themselves. Among the training programs, the courses on social media marketing and marketplace business were in particular high demand. Thus, women entrepreneurs and women with entrepreneurial initiative got an opportunity to digitalize their business," said Nurgul Musabekova, coordinator of the Women's Entrepreneurship Development Centers. Perizat Inkarbayeva, founder of Dignatera, a digital technology center in Karaganda, won a grant from the city's mayor office after receiving training at one of the Women's Entrepreneurship Development Centers. Her project to teach robotics and neurotechnology was recognized as relevant and in demand. "Thanks to the WEDC, I was trained in social entrepreneurship. Today there are more than 150 children studying at our center, and the income of my business has doubled. The most important is that children have the opportunity to learn digital technology. Our center has been operating for two years now. During these two years we prepared many winners of national and international competitions and created new workplaces for teachers. We are proud to contribute to the development of the city, as the national innovation center of Kazakhstan," said Inkarbayeva. Also, as part of CSW67, the Kazakhstani digital art exhibition "Behind the door" was launched at the UN headquarters in New York. It is a social art project aimed at combatting domestic violence in Kazakhstan. The language of contemporary art tells five stories of women survivors of violence. The art pieces were created by Kazakhstani women artists, and they are also placed in blockchain format on the NFT platform. The proceeds from their sale will be sent to support centers for women survivors of violence. This project is a social initiative of CITIX, a Kazakhstani company that uses smart solutions and DOOH ecosystems to draw attention to topical social issues. The exhibition is organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan with the support of UN Women Kazakhstan. "At CSW67 the Kazakhstan delegation shared national best practices in using digital technologies for the public good and to support vulnerable groups. Kazakhstan's CSW67 side event showcased the country's key achievements, particularly the use of digital technologies in proactively fulfilling its commitments within the Generation Equality Forum Coalitions on Gender-Based Violence and Economic Justice and Rights. Brilliant works of Kazakhstani artists to raise awareness of the issue of gender-based violence are presented on the global platform and are available to delegates from all participating countries," commented Maria Dotsenko, UN Women Representative in Kazakhstan.

The European Union, Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNICEF, UN Women Kazakhstan, and the Committee for Children Rights Protection of the Ministry of Education summarized the results of their joint work rehabilitating and reintegrating children, women, and families returned from conflict zones. During two humanitarian operations, respectively called Zhusan and Rusafa, joint efforts saw 725 people, including 188 women and 522 children, returned to Kazakhstan from conflict zones. Most children were under 12 years old. "Applying a multi-sectoral approach to the rehabilitation and reintegration of children and women has proven to be effective, which is evident from the results of the programme implemented jointly with international organisations. The individual approach to each child and the prioritisation of children's interests in the provision of state services has enabled positive results to be achieved. We hope that Kazakhstan's experience in general, as well as new approaches and recommendations developed jointly with international organizations, will be useful for professionals both inside and outside the country," said Talgat Kaliyev, the Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2021, the Kazakhstan Government, together with UNICEF and UN Women launched a program, co-financed by the European Union, aimed at reintegrating women and children from conflict zones as well as providing children and their families with protection and access to social services and education. According to Arthur van Diesen, UNICEF Representative in Kazakhstan, "Kazakhstan is one of the few countries that have repatriated most of its women and children, both from Syria and Iraq. We are very pleased that, in addition to repatriation, the Government of Kazakhstan, in cooperation with international organizations, has done a lot to rehabilitate and reintegrate children and their families. Kazakhstan's experience is very valuable for other countries in the region facing similar challenges. Ensuring the rights and interests of children should be a priority for everyone. Therefore, now our joint task is to make the positive changes that occurred with children and their families within the framework of Kazakhstan’s program sustainable." The parties first established the National Resource Centre at Eurasian National University to provide general and advanced training to specialists working with these children. This centre allowed experts to communicate and jointly work with regional universities in Atyrau, Karaganda, Pavlodar, Turkestan, Almaty, and Shymkent, where colleagues exchanged experiences on training professional psychologists. Next, the parties established resource groups on education, psychosocial support, and mental health care for children and families within this framework. More than 250 specialists and practitioners throughout Kazakhstan studied provision of the psychosocial support, legal, and ethical issues arising from the reintegration process, thanks to which, more than 200 children received improved psychosocial and educational services. Experts also developed and presented the ‘stories between generations’ method of reaching repatriated citizens, which aims to restore lost family and social ties as well as promote responsible citizenship and identity. Through storytelling, older generations share their experiences with children to help teach them the ethics, values, and cultural norms of society in Kazakhstan, including differences between learned and expected behaviours. To date, programme officials trained the first group of teachers and employees from local executive bodies in Shymkent, Karaganda, Zhezkazgan, and Uralsk in this storytelling method. Experts also prepared video lessons to increase the number of trainees and promote the method’s long-term sustainability.   Following the training, experts provided specialists with practical manual on working with children and families returned from conflict zones. The manual contains detailed information on helping repatriated families adapt to their new environment and cope with the psychological trauma, emotional difficulties, and stress associated with past traumatic experiences. Kazakhstani and international experts developed the manual in accordance with international standards and ethical norms, and they included practical case management and psychological first aid recommendations. If necessary, case managers can provide full-fledged consulting services and refer repatriated families for legal aid, medical services, and other assistance.    “Children returned from conflict zones are primarily children. They went through a very traumatic experience that no child should have to face. The European Union is pleased to cooperate with the Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNICEF, UN Women, and the Committee for Children Rights Protection as well as with local executive bodies and non-governmental organizations. Our joint efforts not only strengthen the state system of psycho-social services, they improve the lives of children themselves, opening the door to a better future for them,” said Kestutis Jankauskas, Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan. The reintegration and subsequent acclimatisation of children into local society will help protect them from marginalization and discrimination. Meetings, conversations, and stories with returned children and their families using the ‘stories between generations’ framework will allow children to better understand not only their personal histories, traditions, and customs but also help them find their place in family, society and the country. "The Republic of Kazakhstan is one of the first countries in the world to carry out the unprecedented Zhusan operation, during which more than 500 children were returned to the country. Today we are happy to receive information about their successes and achievements. 51% of children are A- and B-students. 30% of children became participants and winners of various academic competitions and creative contests. We sincerely believe that every child grows up as a proud citizen of the country,” said Nassymzhan Ospanova, Chairperson of the Committee for Children Rights Protection of the Ministry of Education. “Women and children returned from Syria and Iraq experienced serious violations of fundamental human rights. Children and women among civilians suffer the most in armed conflicts. We, at UN Women, have worked extensively with civil society organizations to incorporate a gender approach into their work with the returnees and their families, as well as strengthened gender-sensitivity of media professionals in covering such conflicts and their consequences”, said Maria Dotsenko, UN Women Representative to Kazakhstan. Conference participants also presented the main conclusions and recommendations developed using Kazakhstan’s best practice for repatriating and reintegrating children and women returned from conflict zones.