Oskemen hosts Regional Youth Forum
Under "Yenbek Jastary" ("Working Youth") project, it is planned to provide at least 22,000 young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) with education, advanced training, and employment. Among the regions of the country, East Kazakhstan has the lowest share of NEET and youth. In 2018, as part of Jas Project, young people got government support for the implementation of their initiatives - a grant of up to 1 million tenges, and underwent a unique program of vital skills training and project management. The participants were paid a monthly social scholarship.
Regional Coordinator Serik Zhunussov pointed out that the joint project of the World Bank and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan made it possible to support many good initiatives.
"In 2018, 149 projects were implemented. We completed the last training session, where we told the participants about social entrepreneurship and how to continue their businesses after the completion of the project. Now they are ready to work independently," he said.
By the way, most of the projects are aimed at developing villages, healthy lifestyle, helping young mothers and socially vulnerable groups of the population. The region's young people established 34 meat and dairy production farms, 20 educational courses, 29 leisure centers and creative skill networks, 12 mini-poultry farms, 10 sports centers and fitness clubs, 8 bakeries, pastry shops and cheese factories, 4 sewing workshops, 4 beauty salons, and 4 car repair shops.
"Young mothers with children aged under 3 were involved in our project. We taught them the basic skills of infant massage. (...) We have educated 3 twenty-people groups," Zhalgas Oralbayev told about ‘In Aid of Mothers' project.
Aidar Sadyrbayev, Deputy Head of the East Kazakhstan Domestic Policy Department, highlighted that funding for grants and scholarships for the project participants in the region has totaled KZT 265 million.
"Jas project has boosted many social initiatives and original ideas. Young people in rural areas have been given the opportunity to create a basis for their businesses and careers. It should be mentioned that our youth are very active and have a responsible attitude towards project implementation. We should do targeted work and support our youth, and this, in turn, will effectively affect socialization and employment," he concluded.
Kazinform reported that on January 23, President Nursultan Nazarbayev officially kicked off the Year of Youth in Kazakhstan.