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This review examines the functioning, structure and organisation of the central government and line ministries in Kazakhstan, as well as their capacities to implement national objectives and priorities, outlined in the Kazakhstan’s Vision 2050. It also focuses on tools, strategic management and accountability frameworks in the Government of Kazakhstan, in line with the strategic management principles outlined in the General Approaches to Modernization of Public Administration of Kazakhstan by 2020.

The review of Central Administration of Kazakhstan is based on the long-standing expertise of the OECD Public Governance Committee in public governance reforms and strengthening administrative capacities of member and non-member states, including governance and functional reviews of national administrations. It is part of the broader Project “Regulations for Competitiveness” aimed to enhance Kazakhstan’s Sector Competitiveness through Better Regulations and Institutions.

Kazakhstan is considered as one of the countries of the former communist bloc that has been most successful in modernising its governance systems, with the help of a long period of rapid economic development and political stability. However, its reform programme, conducted by a centralised State structure, has so far had less success in enforcing rules of public accountability towards citizens and in enhancing professionalism in the civil service. In this context, this chapter provides an analysis of the structures, functions and relations to other public and private entities of the Kazakh ministries; their policy-making capacity from the design stage to the implementation of measures; and their management of human resources, the budget, the oversight of subordinate organisations, and integrity issues. In each of these areas, the chapter reviews recent decisions, assesses the current situation, proposes examples of good practice from other countries and makes policy recommendations.

The OECD review of the central administration in Kazakhstan was carried out under the programme of work of the OECD Public Governance Committee, based on its longstanding expertise in public governance reforms and strengthening administrative capacities of member and non-member countries. This work was conducted within the OECD Kazakhstan Regulations for Competitiveness project, which is co-financed by the European Union and the government of Kazakhstan, as part of the OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme (Global Relations Secretariat). The project aims to enhance Kazakhstan’s sector competitiveness through better regulations and institutions.

The OECD Public Governance Reviews are co-ordinated by the Governance Reviews and Partnerships Division, headed by Martin Forst, in the Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development, under the responsibility of Rolf Alter, Director. The mission of the OECD GOV Directorate is to help governments at all levels to design and implement strategic, evidence-based and innovative policies to strengthen public governance, respond effectively to diverse and disruptive economic, social and environmental challenges and to deliver on governments’ commitments to citizens. The horizontal programme on public governance is led by the OECD Public Governance Committee.

Kazakhstan is a major agricultural country, but one in which agriculture is still experiencing considerable structural change. The sector underwent a deep crisis during the 1990s, as its output went down from more than one third of the Gross Domestic Product in 1990 to just 10% in 1999. Even though production bottomed up at the turn of the century and has regularly increased since, it has been outpaced by the rest of the economy, and represented only 5.2% of the GDP in 2011.

Since 2000, Kazakhstan has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Despite the 2008 global financial crisis, Kazakhstan’s economy continued to deliver positive results. Building on this success, Kazakhstan has set a new long-term target to join the rank of the top 30 developed countries by 2050. Yet despite remarkable recent transformation, Kazakhstan is facing a number of challenges which can undermine the sustainability of the country and its ability to achieve this objective. These include growing regional disparities in wealth distribution, a persistently high poverty rate, particularly in rural areas, corruption, challenges in ensring the rule of law and quality of democratic institutions, limited human capital and limited citizen participation in policy processes. As such implementing governance reforms to advance the effective functioning and capacities of government institutions, reduce corruption and enable the rule of law in a context of greater openness and democratisation will be critical for the country to implement its ambitious vision and objectives. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a historical and broad socio-economic context in order to situate the current governance reforms in Kazakhstan and the recommendations of the current review.

On several accounts, the state of the environment has been a major challenge for the government of Kazakhstan. Parts of the legacy of the Soviet Union to Kazakhstan were the radioactively contaminated site of Semipalatinsk, the shrinking of the Aral Sea, and desertification and land deterioration in a large part of the country caused by the practice of intensive agriculture.

Kazakhstan is emerging as the most dynamic economic and political actor in Central Asia. Over the past decade, the country made significant improvements in its allocation of resources, business climate, human development and quality of public administration. Building on this success, Kazakhstan has set a new long-term target to join the rank of the top 30 developed countries by 2050. Yet despite remarkable recent transformation, Kazakhstan continues to face a number of challenges which can undermine the sustainability of the country and its ability to achieve its objective of becoming one of the most advanced countries in the world. These challenges include growing regional disparities in wealth distribution; a persistently high poverty rate, particularly in rural areas; limited human capital; corruption and the need to strengthen the rule of law, democratisation and openness, including citizen participation in policy processes.

Kazakhstan has made remarkable progress in the decades since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Significant recent reforms include the development of a rulesdriven fiscal framework, the strengthening of its public management and business climate, and the allocation of resources for improved social services and critical infrastructure to sustain growth. As part of its long-term development vision, the country’s ambition is to join the ranks of the 30 most developed countries in the world by 2050.

The government of Kazakhstan has embarked on an ambitious agenda aimed to strengthen the country’s competitiveness, modernise the public sector and enhance performance across the public sector. This requires building a smarter and interconnected state, strategic management of public organisations, delivering results for citizens and ensuring that the distribution of public resources is aligned with national policy goals. A strategic Centre of Government that both provides effective leadership and enables sound and citizen-oriented management of public organisations will be crtical for acheiving these objectives. To this end, this chapter aims to assess the capacity of the Kazakhstan’s Centre of Government, including its role, structure and capacities necessary to design and steer the government-wide implementation of the development objectives of the country. In particular, it reviews the relationship between the Centre of Government and line ministries, and highlights the necessary steps to increase ministerial autonomy and the strategic focus of the Centre of Government as a partner in performance.

The Centre of Government plays a crucial role in OECD countries, aimed at co-ordinating various state functions, managing public organisations, delivering results for citizens and distributing public resources effectively. In order to meet these goals, a Centre of Government must thus provide effective and efficient leadership and develop an external, citizen-oriented outlook. In this context, this chapter assesses the central functions in the government of Kazakhstan, including direction-setting and budget planning functions; setting the public sector management agenda; monitoring and oversight; strategic research; capacity building and strategic services; providing support to the political level; adjudication; budget planning and economic analysis. It offers concrete recommendations for streamlining the allocation of central functions, solidifying a culture of improvement and enhancing the efficiency of the Government as a whole.

Governments around the world, including in OECD member countries, are trying to achieve important economic, social and political goals for their citizens. In this regard, Kazakhstan adopted Strategy Kazakhstan 2030 and Strategy Kazakhstan 2050, an ambitious agenda to make Kazakhstan a modern democratic state, including achieving high levels of economic, social and political development. Effective implementation of these Strategies requires effective state capacities and strategic approach to public management. This chapter aims to provide a high-level assessment of Kazakhstan’s strategic management process, including strategy-setting, budgeting, monitoring and implementation, as well as performance assessment, accountability and evaluation. It also aims to identify good practices and policy recommendations that may be useful to Kazakhstan in advancing its reforms of strategic management and strategic planning across the government.

Canada’s Management Accountability Framework (MAF) was implemented in 2003 to hold heads of departments and agencies accountable for management performance, and to continuously improve management performance.

Kazakhstan recognises a right to quality education to all its citizens,1 and its government has engaged important efforts since the end of the 1990s to make this right effective, notably by extending the coverage of schooling throughout the country. According to the National Centre for Educational Statistics and Evaluation, primary and secondary education integrated 99.3% of children from 7 to 10 years old and 99.8% of children from 11 to 15 years old in 2005. The country also recorded significant results in international education studies, ranking first among 129 countries on the UNESCO Index of Education for all Development Index (IDE) in 2009 and seventh on in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) in 2007.

Kazakhstan’s Gross Domestic Product has increased at the remarkable average rate of 8% a year since 2000. The main engine of this growth has been the development of extractive industries, backed by the country’s immense natural wealth in oil, gas, coal, uranium and non-ferrous metals. According to the World Bank’s accounting, the total rent provided by oil, natural gas and coal, which had fallen at 13% of the GDP at its lowest in 1998, has fluctuated between a third and half of the GDP since 2005.

Integrated Service Delivery (ISD) is one of the major international trends in public sector reform, and a key element in improving government services to citizens and businesses.1 Governments around the world such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, the USA, Singapore, Portugal and Brazil have all created one-stop service agencies and one-stop service centres to provide integrated public sector services either across entire governments. In some cases, such as Malaysia and Canada, integrated “one-stop” service delivery is also being provided across levels of government.