Chairperson of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs, Anar Zhailganova, and UNDP Resident Representative, Yakup Beris, met to consolidate development partnership and to discuss priorities for future cooperation under the new Country Programme for 2021-2025.

During the meeting Anar Zhailganova shared her vision regarding priority areas for the civil service transformation, in accordance with the recent State of the Nation Address by President of Kazakhstan Kassym - Jomart Tokayev. “The Agency is interested in further close cooperation with UNDP in strengthening the civil service, improving the quality of public services delivery and further professionalising its personnel during the pandemic,” noted Anar Zhailganova.

Among the recently implemented joint initiatives are the development of methodology for the assessment of public services, including one for digital public services, sociological surveys on quality of public services and ethics of civil servants; development of the draft of the new Ethics Code and capacity building interventions for civil society organizations to participate in public assessment process.

The Civil Service Agency and UNDP also piloted a few initiatives related to HR management, including a factor-scale renumeration system that is to be extended across all government agencies, and i-Qyzmet initiative, a digital platform for HR operations in civil service.

“UNDP values the long-standing partnership with the Agency for Civil Service Affairs with a number of success stories and important initiatives under way. We will continue supporting Kazakhstan civil service development, with primary focus on end-to-end digitization, reskilling of civil servants and enhancing the overall preparedness and resilience to crises and shocks,” stressed Yakup Beris.

With the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan, UNDP and the Astana Civil Service Hub supported the Government in strengthening its capacity to deliver quality services while working remotely. This was implemented through a series of trainings to upgrade digital and other critical skills of public personnel on national and sub-national levels. UNDP also provided expert assistance in developing the package of specific proposals and recommendations for digitising HR business processes in the public sector.

The meeting covered specific priorities for scaling up future cooperation with human development, digital resilience and uninterrupted delivery of public service to people at the core of this important work. “We will continue mobilising top notch expertise and bringing in innovative solutions to support Kazakh civil service. I am confident our joint efforts will ultimately benefit all people across the country,” closed Yakup Beris.