NUR-SULTAN: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan signed a Statement of Intent to cooperate in the areas of digitalization, public service delivery and innovation, local media reported on Tuesday.
“We thank UNDP for its contribution to the development of the digital industry in Kazakhstan. Jointly we will improve the quality of digital public service delivery, universal access of Kazakhstan citizens to Internet and, as a result, accelerate the digital transformation of the public sector. The impact is already visible, but there is still a lot of work to do,” said Bagdat Musin, Minister of Digital Development.
UNDP provides support in attracting leading international experts in digitalization and plans to allocate a financial grant in the amount of $200,000 for the Reengineering and Digital Transformation Center.
The cooperation is expected to accelerate digital transformation in Kazakhstan in accordance with the national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda-2030. In particular, the parties will work to improve access of citizens and businesses to digital public services, implement digital solutions in the area of social protection, develop business packages for investors to provide fast internet connectivity in remote villages, and train IT personnel of central state bodies to support the digital transformation in the public sector.
“Supporting digital transformation for better governance, social protection and green economy are key to UNDP’s recovery offer in helping countries to get back on track towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Yakup Beris, UNDP Resident Representative in Kazakhstan.
In response to COVID-19, UNDP in Kazakhstan contributed to the enhancement of digital skills of 1,000 civil servants required for remote work. UNDP also provided expert assistance in developing a package of specific proposals and recommendations for digitizing HR business processes in the public sector.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture held public discussions over the Report on its activities in the provision of public services for 2020, the ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry began the active phase of transferring public services to an online format in 2019. Over the past year, it has transferred 82 percent of services to digital format.
This year, when the entire work of the ministry was transferred to online mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the services’ digitalization accelerated.
For 9 months of 2020, 94 percent of public services assigned to the ministry are available in electronic form. Generally, out of 61 state services, 57 are provided online, the remaining – in paper format, 5 (on land resources) are provided by the ‘Government for Citizens’. – Agencies
