FOR MORE INFORMATION: Coordinator's Office Annual Reports» http://kazakhstan.usembassy.gov» www.foreignassistance.gov»

ASSISTANCE GOALS: U.S. Government (USG) assistance to Kazakhstan focuses on combating transnational threats (trafficking in persons, narcotics, terrorists, and WMD materiel), improving the functioning of the judiciary, promoting an increased public role for civil society and mass media, maintaining Kazakhstan’s open investment and trade environment, and helping the government provide effective social services. Kazakhstan shares the cost of projects in the economic growth area, providing a two for one match of U.S. funding.

AREA DESCRIPTIONS:

Peace and Security (P&S)

• Support the anti-terrorism rapid reaction force, including refurbishment of helicopters
• Trained police, judges and prosecutors on anti-trafficking legislation and how to identify trafficking-in-persons
• Procured portable shelters, contraband detection kits, and X-ray equipment for border guards to help fight regional terror threats, including WMD material transfer
• Developed new selection and education guidelines for Canine Training Center, which contributed to significant increases in narcotics seizures

Governing Justly and Democratically (GJD)

• Trained judges on commercial law topics such as competition, intellectual property, and contracts in partnership with the Supreme Court and Institute of Justice
• Held open trainings for political parties on platform development, grass roots organizing, and effective use of new technology
• Assisted independent media, including through production grants for Kazakhstani TV stations to produce public policy segments

Investing in People (IIP)

• Supported direct outreach and health education activities for populations at high risk of HIV/AIDS and TB infection
• Advised on improving effective government management of HIV/AIDS and drug resistant TB in clinics throughout the country

Economic Growth (EG)

• Fostered public private partnerships as a means for communities to improve educational and other infrastructure
• Provided business regulators with advice on simplifying procedures for starting a business.
• Trained teachers across Kazakhstan on how to conduct classes on entrepreneurship.
• Provided agricultural exchanges for farmers and university level professors and encouraged beneficiaries to share their experiences upon return to communities in Kazakhstan

RECENT SUCCESSES:

• Contributed to Kazakhstan’s improved ranking at 59 out of 183 countries in the World Bank’s 2011 Ease of Doing Business annual report.
• Ensured zero cases of polio in Kazakhstan during a regional outbreak in 2010 through coordinated immunization campaigns with the WHO and Ministry of Health.
• U.S. trained NGOs successfully advocated to block restrictions being proposed in a new law on lobbying.

*This fact sheet does not reflectPeace Corps funding or centrally managed or regional Foreign Operations funding that is not specifically budgeted for Kazakhstan.