Kazakhstan Foundation for Cultural Social and Educational Development

Young women in the rural areas of Kazakhstan have limited access to education. This is a cyclical problem that excludes women from opportunities for advancement and makes them particularly vulnerable to the threats of gender discrimination, including early marriage, bride kidnapping, and domestic violence. Even in Kazakhstan’s cities, women have few job opportunities and little power to improve their lives without support.

Kazakhstan Foundation for Cultural, Social, and Educational Development (KFCSED) spurs social change in three areas: empowering women through education, advocating for social responsibility, and strengthening civic engagement. Through its projects, the Foundation improves the lives and livelihoods of women across Kazakhstan.

Projects

Kumbel Professional Training Center

The largest KFSCED project, Kumbel provides comprehensive training in service sector skills for young women from professional schools. The program lasts for 10 months, during which women complete a cycle of internships and train on-location with specialists from the program’s partner hotels and restaurants.

Each year, the program has about 50 students, and now Kumbel boasts 300 graduates. Of these, 61% work in the service industry, and the remaining third are pursuing higher education while they work. Because women who graduate from Kumbel are highly professional and display excellent socio-emotional skills, employers know of Kumbel and often give its students preferential treatment when they look to hire.

IMPACTUM!

KFCSED launched this initiative in 2018 with the goal of promoting proactive leadership in the rural communities of Kazakhstan. The main initiative of this project is a project management course for women, which involves implementing a variety of social projects. Every year, IMPACTUM! challenges 30 women to become agents of change in their communities.

Mira

In 2019, in response to the social changes in Almaty society, KFCSED collaborated with the U.S. Embassy to Kazakhstan and designed an educational campaign about human dignity. This creative, photography-centric project reinforces awareness that human dignity is the basis of human rights. Each year, 20 students participate in this project and attend conferences with human rights experts, conduct case studies, take virtual visits to international organizations, and learn from practical photography sessions. The program teaches students to reflect on and share their values in different ways, whether through verbal or visual media.

Kumbel Lab

In 2021, KFCSED interviewed the heads of three vocational schools of technology and learned that the percentage of girls studying technical careers in those schools was less than 10%. At the end of their training, less than 1% of those women worked in their specialty, while their male peers often had job offers in their third year, even before completing their training. Based on this staggering information, KFCSED launched Kumbel Lab to help young women “decode” their technological talents and start their careers in the technology sector.

Mayak

A key component of every project that KFCSED undertakes is its individualized approach, which is guaranteed by this unique mentoring program. Creating synergies for both parties involved in this project, Mayak offers the opportunity for caring professionals to strengthen and share their skills with young university students and new teachers, who benefit from this support as they develop their own careers.

Kumbel Pro

Kumbel Pro supports teachers and employees of professional schools in four areas: training in socio-emotional awareness, reinforcing skills for teaching, instructing on how to host seminars and conduct mentoring, and offering the opportunity for mentorship.

To learn more, visit kazfond.kz/en.

To donate by check:
Make check out to American Initiatives for Social Development with the memo line “KFCSED” and send to:

American Initiatives for Social Development
PO Box 1670
New York, NY 10156-1670