Graduate School of Public Policy

On March 1-2, 2016 the Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University in collaboration with the Ministry of national economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Organisation of economic cooperation and development (OECD) held two workshops on Decentralisation and Open Government.

Major issues that are being considered at the workshops are successful experience of OECD countries on carrying out decentralisation and its applicability in Kazakhstan. Besides OECD principles and best practices on how to involve concerned parties in governmental decision-making (Open government) are also examined.

During the first day of workshops the experts presented results of OECD’s Review of Kazakhstan’s Central Administration (2014). It was noted that decentralisation reforms in Kazakhstan had significant potential to advance Kazakhstan’s development goals. Local government bodies are becoming one of key agents in the economic development of the country. All this demonstrates a certain degree of successful decentralisation of powers from the national government to sub-national levels.

Therefore, the purpose of this seminar wass to explore Kazakhstan’s experience with decentralisation of government functions and international and OECD best practices.

Supporting the process of decentralisation in Kazakhstan, including organisational and legal framework; tools and processes to support decentralisation and co-ordination: international and OECD experiences; role of national and regional institutions in decentralization; assessing the optimal division of responsibilities: international and OECD experiences were the topics that have attracted the most interest.

Open government, defined by the OECD as “the transparency of government actions, the accessibility of government services and information, and the responsiveness of government to new ideas, demands and needs” has been included as one of Kazakhstan’s 100 Concrete Steps Initiative showing the government willingness to explore new ways to foster an active citizenship. In addition, it is also important to look at citizens’ engagement as an inherent part of open government which refers to the idea that governments should treat citizens as partners when providing information, consulting with or engaging them.

The workshop on March 2 focused on sharing with Kazakhstan OECD best practices to develop and implement a strategic vision for Open Government in the country. Furthermore, the seminar has provided mechanisms, initiatives and tools to strengthen stakeholder’s engagement in the policy making process.