Kazakhstan 2021

CA Analysis & Research Center Limited

Defending Human Rights

$67,000

To assist victims of politically motivated incarceration and detention in Kazakhstan. The organization will provide legal advice and support for incarcerated activists and other victims of politically motivated detentions. Using its inside knowledge of the country’s prisons, the organization will provide information for national and international human rights monitoring and advocacy.

 

Free Russia Foundation

Strengthening Civic and Political Activism in Kazakhstan

$69,000

To strengthen the capacity for independent civic and political movements to conduct strategic planning and organize public campaigns. The organization will apply its strategic planning and public campaign planning curriculum that it has successfully used in Russia to Kazakhstan. The organization will conduct strategic planning sessions, public campaign trainings, and webinars for key civic and political movements in Kazakhstan. It will hold a conference for political activists at the end of the project.

 

Universal Rights

Fostering an Active and Engaged Youth

$130,000

To promote public awareness of civic activism and volunteerism in Kazakhstan. The organization will maintain its Russian, Kazakh, and English language website about civic, art, and environmental activism. It will produce documentary films highlighting the work of Kazakh and Central Asian activists, as well as about environmental and human rights. It will also conduct in person trainings and workshops for a variety of activists.

 

International Republican Institute (IRI)

Trainings & Exchanges for the New Generation of Rights Initiatives (TENGRI)

$250,000

To strengthen Kazakhstan’s civil society and empower activists from across Central Asia, the Institute will conduct a series of trainings and exchanges aimed at increasing collaboration between organizations, polishing their internal operations, and providing them with advocacy skills and the benefits of lessons learned elsewhere in the region. These sessions will be bolstered by targeted opinion research, providing civil society with critical information it can use to work with the public.

 

Public Foundation “Ar Rukh Khak”

Human Rights Advocacy

$129,520

To defend human rights in Kazakhstan. The organization will provide legal support and advocacy for political prisoners and other people subject to political repression. The organization also will monitor and document human rights abuses stemming from the January 2022 events in Kazakhstan. This project provides key services of defending human rights through monitoring by grassroots activists, pressuring the government to address abuses, and sharing information in international fora.

 

Public Foundation “PaperLab”

Promoting Expert Analysis in Mass Media

$74,000

To promote evidence-based public discourse in the Kazakhstani media. The organization will prepare young professional and academic researchers to share their areas of expertise with the general public, providing media and public communications trainings and connecting them with the national media. Participants will include experts from a wide variety of fields, whose evidence-based analysis will contribute to credible, contextualized discussions in traditional and new media.

 

Public Foundation International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech “Adil Soz”

Defending Freedom of Speech and the Media

$95,000

To promote and protect freedom of expression in Kazakhstan. The organization will combat attempts by the government and private sector actors to initiate administrative, criminal, and civil cases to suppress the speech of journalists, bloggers, and other citizens. The organization also will advise the government on legislative reforms to protect freedom of expression.

 

Public Fund «Wings of Liberty»

Expanding Human Rights Education

$50,000

To establish a network of Russian and Kazakh speaking human rights trainers throughout Kazakhstan. The organization will conduct human rights lectures in five target cities to identify potential trainers. It will then conduct a series of trainings and workshops to educate them. Before completion of the project, the organization will help each of the new trainers conduct human rights trainings in their own cities.

 

Public Union “Abyroi”

Raising Human Rights Awareness

$46,500

The organization will monitor human rights conditions in Western Kazakhstan. It will work with lawyers, human rights defenders, and journalists to conduct an advocacy campaign for human rights violations. The organization will also publish two feature-length documentary films on key human rights issues. Both the materials produced as part of the advocacy campaign and the documentary films will be published to the organization’s website, social media pages, and YouTube.

 

RespectMedia.KZ

Promoting Investigative Journalism

$45,000

To promote quality investigative journalism in Kazakhstan. The organization will research corruption in the tender system, state-owned companies, quasi-state organizations, and the judicial system. It will publish the results in Russian language texts, multimedia, and video to its popular Telegram and Instagram pages. It will package content in understandable language so that a mass audience can understand the mechanics of large-scale public corruption.

 

Youth Information Service of Kazakhstan

School of Human Rights

$130,000

To promote civic engagement and activism among youth in the regions of Kazakhstan. The organization will conduct a series of introductory and advanced seminars for activists in six regions of Kazakhstan on the basics of human rights, civic activism, and national and international human rights legislation. It will award the best graduates of its program with stipends to conduct civic initiatives. Two graduates will receive internships and mentorship in prominent civil society organizations.