Sections:
DFID graduates from Kazakhstan
12 August 2005
DFID closed its programme in Kazakhstan at the end of July. Jessica Irvine, Head of
Europe and Central Asia Department (ECAD), and Roy Trivedy, Team Leader, Central Asia, South Caucasus and Moldova, were in Almaty on 18 July to mark the end of over ten years of DFID work in the country.
Key achievements
- Established a participatory land use planning process for the former nuclear testing site, which will help environmentally sound and sustainable land use;
- Assisted in improving the quality and accessibility of primary health care;
- Improved capacity for management of water resources, including a new Water Code;
- Enhanced civil society's understanding of its role in poverty reduction.
Over a decade of work in Kazakhstan
The UK has been supporting sustainable development in Kazakhstan
since 1992, shortly after the country gained independence following the break-up
of the Soviet Union. Over the last thirteen years our work has covered areas
such as primary health care reform, the development of civil society and
planning for sustainable land use in the former nuclear test site area of
Semipalatinsk. During this time we have spent over £17 million on development
work.
Our decision to graduate from Kazakhstan is part of the overall shift in DFID to
work in low-income countries around the world. Kazakhstan’s status as a
middle-income country has determined our decision to withdraw.
Levels of poverty remain high, however, and the Government is making efforts to
address this. Kazakhstan’s oil and gas reserves offer the prospect of
long-term prosperity and stability, but that this can only be achieved by
ensuring that revenues from these industries are managed transparently and
responsibly and benefit the poorest in society.
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
To this end, DFID will continue support for Kazakhstan’s participation in the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative which seeks to strengthen
accountability and good governance in the extractive industries, promoting
greater economic and political stability and a more favourable investment
climate in participating countries.
HIV/AIDS
We are also conscious of the growing HIV/AIDS problem in Central Asia and the need for effective national responses to prevent an HIV/AIDS epidemic across the region. We have therefore agreed to provide £6.4 million over four years to a regional HIV/AIDS project with the World Bank and other partners. DFID will be working in the Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and supporting the World Bank’s programme, which will also cover Kazakhstan. Our work will assist the implementation of national programmes to combat HIV/AIDS and will focus on prevention amongst highly vulnerable groups.
Small Grants Scheme
In Kazakhstan, Small Grants Scheme assistance supported DFID work on good governance (including EITI), HIV/AIDS, SME development and the development of democracy and civil society development. Two of the projects in 2004-5 supported our work on Semipalatinsk: "Living drop" was an environmental education initiative in schools; another was the design of an educational animated cartoon about the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site and sustainable land use, a scene from which is shown above.
The Future
UK government continues to support a wide range of work in Kazakhstan with the following UK government departments:
and other organisations. This includes projects on energy sector reform, prison reform, environmental education, democracy building, counter proliferation of nuclear materials and counter-narcotics.
Further information