Promoting Civic Activism, Volunteerism and NGOs: A Project for Kazakhstan

January 15 - 20, 2014

About Kazakhstan

Civil Society in Kazakhstan is abundant and well developed due to the fall of the Soviet Union [1]. Kazakhstan is home to many large foreign and local companies who support NGOs and other organizations which makes civic activism in this country prominent. NGOs usually work separately and focus on their own groups, recently however, they have started assimilating due to lack of government support. The National Action Plan on Development of CSOs for 2014-2020 focuses on government cooperation and hopes to further reforms [2]. In 2016, The Law on Payments was signed and required labeling, reporting and administrative changes when foreign funding was involved [2]. There are currently some amendments in progress to the NGO legislation including grant financing, simplifying grant distribution and bringing more transparency to NGO-State processes [3].

About the Program

The IVLP is a professional exchange program that seeks to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other nations through carefully designed short-term visits to the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders. Over the last 70 years, the IVLP has developed into the premier professional exchange program in the U.S. and brings over 200 emerging leaders to Jacksonville every year.

[1] http://www.icvolunteers.org/isv2001/data/d62.html

[2] http://www.icnl.org/research/monitor/kazakhstan.html

[3]http://kazembassy.ca/kazakhstan/civil-society-in-kazakhstan/