How Kazakhstan’s New Regions Will Develop

KazStandard held a meeting with representatives of the local administrations (akimats) of the Abay, Zhetisu and Ulytau regions together with the co-founder of the National ESG Club.

During the meeting, participants discussed ways to improve residents’ quality of life through the ISO 37120 series of standards, “Sustainable Cities and Communities — Indicators for City Services and Quality of Life.”

The standard contains more than 120 indicators that affect people’s quality of life, including healthcare, education, sport and culture, telecommunications, transport, urban planning, water supply, and others.

Implementing quality-of-life standards will make it possible to track the population’s changing needs over time, identify the most significant social problems, take part in solving them, carry out targeted actions to improve socio-economic indicators, set priorities, allocate funding purposefully, and monitor how it is used.

“Today every resident is interested in getting safe, fresh food products and quality services — all of these indicators are contained in the standards. The main thing now is to work together to implement these standards in all regions of Kazakhstan,” emphasized KazStandard General Director G. Mukhambetov.

“People are no longer satisfied with Soviet-era standards of urban improvement. They have become more discerning. Now, territories that want to attract talent, qualified personnel and tourists must provide them with safety, green spaces, leisure opportunities, quality healthcare, clean air, and more. Implementing the ISO 37120 standard is a very labor-intensive process that will meaningfully improve the urban environment — our company, GPI Lab and Green Urban Community, is ready to take part in this work,” noted Yulia Yakupbayeva, co-founder of the National ESG Club.

Following the meeting, a decision was made to set up working groups to implement ISO 37120 in Almaty Region as well as in the Abay, Zhetisu and Ulytau regions, made up of representatives of the akimats of these regions and the National ESG Club. These groups will calculate the actual state of residents’ quality of life in these regions and develop recommendations for its improvement.

As a reminder, in his address to the session of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan on January 11, 2022, the Head of State set the task of ensuring the well-being and quality of life of the people of Kazakhstan.

To achieve this goal, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan adopted its Action Program for 2022 (Government Resolution No. 241 of April 25, 2022), along with an implementation action plan that includes item 33, “Improving the quality of goods, works and services, and the safety of the life and health of the population, by strengthening the role and function of technical regulation in the economy.”