Kathleen McLaughlin - Kazakhstan Country Gender Assessment

DECEMBER 2018

2018 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2018.

ISBN 978-92-9261-306-8 (print), 978-92-9261-307-5 (electronic)

Publication Stock No. TCS179181

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS179181

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Notes:

In this publication, $ refers to United States dollars and "T" refers to Kazakhstani tenge.

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On the cover:

Empowering women and girls. ADB projects in Kazakhstan help improve womens access to livelihood opportunities, including jobs in nontraditional sectors (photos by ADB).

This Country Gender Assessment (CGA) was researched and written by Kathleen McLaughlin with assistance from Raushan Nauryzbayeva.

The CGA was prepared under an Asian Development Bank (ADB) regional technical assistance for Strengthening Gender-Inclusive Growth in Central and West Asia. The overall CGA process was supervised and managed by a team in the Central and West Asia Department (CWRD) comprising Mary Alice Rosero (social development specialist on gender and development); Ketevan Chkheidze (international implementation consultant/gender specialist based in the region); and Leavides G. Domingo-Cabarrubias (technical assistance gender coordinator). Maria Ava Golda Destura and Fritz Tadeo Tuliao helped the team navigate ADBs financial and logistical systems. We also acknowledge the important contributions of staff from ADBs Kazakhstan Resident Mission in Astana, particularly Aliya Ibadildina, external relations officer and resident mission gender focal point, who provided guidance on Kazakh issues, and organized informant and stakeholder meetings.

The Kazakhstan CGA could not have been produced without the full support of the CWRD management team: Giovanni Capannelli (Kazakhstan Resident Mission country director); Nianshan Zhang (advisor and head of the Portfolio, Results, Safeguards and Gender Unit); Hong Wei (deputy director general); Sean OSullivan (former director general); and Werner Liepach (director general).

The report benefited from valuable inputs of sector specialist peer reviewers from the different divisions: Meenakshi Ajmera (former senior social development specialist for safeguards, CWOD-PSG; currently principal safeguards specialist, SEOD); Gia Heeyoung Hong (principal urban development specialist for finance, CWRD); and Kristian Rosbach (economist for Regional Cooperation, CWRC). The SDTCGender team and Gender Equity Thematic Group (GETG), led by technical advisor on gender equity, Sonomi Tanaka, and GETG member Francesco Tornieri, principal social development specialist for gender and development, provided insightful comments.

The CGA team would like to convey appreciation and gratitude to the Government of Kazakhstan and the staff and representatives from the various ministries and government agenciesDAMU Entrepreneurship Development Fund, the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Healthcare, Ministry for Investments and Development Committee of Roads, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of National Economy, and the National Commission for Womens Affairs and Family and Demographic Policyfor participating in the interviews and shedding light on the policies and programs contributing to gender equality and womens empowerment in Kazakhstan. We are also grateful to our development partners, and civil society organizations, who provided fresh perspectives on the issues. Finally, we express our gratitude to the individual women in the communities, who shared their stories and insights on how ADB projects and other social interventions improved their lives.