ASTANA, June 3, 2004—An early version of the new Country Partnership Strategy which is currently developed jointly by the World Bank and the Government of Kazakhstan has been discussed with civil society organizations and private sector at the series of meetings held in Almaty and Astana on June 1-2, 2004.
The consultations involved more than 70 participants from NGOs, research institutes, think tanks, and private sector companies from Almaty, Astana, Shimkent, Taraz, Kzyl Orda, Atyrau, Karaganda, Ust-Kamenogorsk, and Kostanai. Participants of the meetings unanimously stressed that the mere fact that these consultations were taking place earmark a positive development in the World Bank relationship with Kazakhstan, where greater civic engagement and participation play a very important role.
The Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) is a document that lays out the strategic vision for the World Bank involvement in Kazakhstan for the next several years. In support of the objective of economic and social development the new CPS proposes several approaches, which all contribute to the ultimate goal of increasing diversification and competitiveness of Kazakhstan economy by developing non-oil sectors, improving basic social services (health and education), and preserving the environment. During the discussions, the overall proposed strategy was recognized as very timely and relevant to the major challenges that Kazakhstan is now facing. However, there were a number of recommendations made by the civil society on how the strategy could be further improved.
More specifically, one of the recommendations was to introduce in the strategy mechanisms for greater involvement of the civil society in the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of the strategies and projects financed by the World Bank in Kazakhstan. It was also recommended to ensure better information dissemination about different projects and other activities supported by the World Bank, so that the affected population know about those activities and their impact. There were a number of other recommendations in regards to specific components of the strategy.
All the comments and recommendations from the meetings will be reviewed and discussed with the Government in the course of further preparation of the strategy. When finalized, the document will be considered by the World Bank Board of Directors which is scheduled for September.
For more information on the proposed strategy and World Bank’s activities in Kazakhstan, please visit www.worldbank.org.kz |
