Advocacy Campaign in the Parliament 

ICNL conducted half a day training session for twenty (20) members and activists of the Youth 

Information Service of Kazakhstan educating them about the draft NGO law and about alternative 

good practices.  ICNL assisted the National Democratic Institute (the organizer) with aiding in 

preparatory role plays to further train these young advocates to interact with deputies of the 

Parliament. 

Technical Assistance with the draft Law on State Support of NGOs 

ICNL Broadens Interest in State Contracting as a Mechanism of Support 

ICNL representatives met with the head of the Medical Association  Healthy Motherland  and agreed 

to take joint efforts to bring matters of possible development of state contracting in public health area 

to the attention of the Minister of Public Health. ICNL also met with the Head of Department for 

Handicapped People of the Ministry of Health and discussed opportunities of broader involvement of 

Ministry of Health into the drafting process of the law on State Support of NGOs ( State social 

contracting ). The Ministry officials expressed interest in working with health oriented NGOs to 

ensure the drafting of a sound law.  ICNL and its partners will fully include this Ministry in promoting 

a sound law, and counteracting objectives adverse to NGOs pursued by other government 

departments/ministries. 

Information on State Social Contracting Televised 

On May 26, 2003, Mr. Ovcharenko, ICNL Legal Consultant, participated in a television program on 

TV station  El Arna  on problems with state social policy in Kazakhstan.  This program served to 

disseminate information about the benefits of greater state support of private social initiatives and as a 

support to the reasoning behind adopting such a law. 

Roundtable on State Support of the Disadvantaged 

On June 13, Mr. Ovcharenko participated in the round table discussion on the draft law on state 

support of handicapped people in Kazakhstan and addressed matters of public associations of 

handicapped people.  

Campaign against Restrictions of the Freedom of Association 

At the very base of the NGO legal framework remains one impediment.  Informal associations are 

prohibited under the laws of Kazakhstan (ostensibly making a non incorporated bowling league or 

other social club illegal).  Up until now there has not been enough local interest in pursuing this basic 

fracture in the legal basis for civil society.  Recently ICNL has been able to establish a coalition of 

human rights NGOs to work on this issue including: the Almaty Helsinki Committee; Kazakhstan 

Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law; and, InterLegal/Transparency International.  ICNL will 

move forward with its partners to advocate for legalizing the right of individuals to freely associate 

without the burden of forming a legal entity. 

Corporate Philanthropy in Kazakhstan 

ICNL assisted Counterpart Consortium to develop and disseminate a survey to its network of civil 

society support centers.  ICNL also aided Counterpart in assessing the needs of the NGO community 

as the basis for a proposed training for NGOs on promoting and gaining philanthropic support (to be 

competitively bid through AED). 

Programmatic Mentoring Leads to Increased Capacity of Local NGOs 

ICNL Completed its programmatic monitoring of the USAID funded project on development of the 

law on state social support implemented by the Central Asian Institute for Development (CAID), a 

local NGO.  During the life of the project CAID members gained knowledge on the issues of financial 

relations between the State and NGOs in Kazakhstan and international good practices on this issue, 

gained experience in organizing public discussions on the issue, gained some drafting skills and skills 

cooperating with the government.  

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