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Success Story

Photo: IFES

Students gained first-hand exposure of how city government functions by working alongside city officials during Student Local Government Day.

“This Student Local Government Day opened our eyes and now students are more aware of state policy. This day definitely will have an impact on how students choose their future career paths.” Ruslan Tleysov, a tenth grade student at School #16 in Pavlodar.

Hundreds of students in Kazakhstan have a new understanding of how their government works after spending a day working beside their local officials.

USAID and an implementing partner organized Student Local Government Days in 26 city councils. The program, supported by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education, paired 359 students with 270 local government officials. The government employees explained their day-to-day job responsibilities and talked about the challenges that they face. For their part, students helped the officials with some of their work and provided suggestions for solving certain issues.

“This Student Local Government Day opened our eyes and now students are more aware of state policy. This day definitely will have an impact on how students choose their future career paths,” said Ruslan Tleysov, a tenth grade student at School #16 in Pavlodar.

The project was part of an ongoing effort to teach Kazakhstani youth about how to actively participate in developing their government and society. Organizers involved local media in the project to bring credit to the local government offices and encourage officials to increase transparency and openness.

Government officials expressed interest in learning about the issues that concern Kazakhstani youth. Many of the officials said they were pleased with the event and would participate in Student Local Government Day in the future. The Kazakhstani Youth Congress, a union of youth associations, nongovernmental organizations and movements, attended the Almaty Student Local Government Day and agreed to take over the project’s future administrative tasks.

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