Home
SubscribeProgram Overview
 |
||
IREX, Save the Children and the World Bank have partnered to oversee the development of the BOTA Foundation, now the largest independent NGO in Kazakhstan dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth suffering from poverty.
Background
In a 1999 legal case under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act involving a US citizen, the U.S. Department of Justice sanctioned a Swiss bank account worth over $84 million originating from Kazakhstan. It was ultimately decided that the funds would be returned to Kazakhstan, but with strict anti-corruption precautions in place to ensure their proper use.
Due to sensitivities surrounding the repatriation of these funds, the BOTA Foundation was created by the governments of the United States, the Swiss Confederation and the Republic of Kazakhstan as a corruption free mechanism of repatriating the disputed funds still frozen in Luxembourg.
Project Results
- Over 900 beneficiaries enrolled in the CCT program
- 87 Students received tuition assistance out of 1600 applicants
- Over 200 civil society organizations have received grants
Project Activities
The BOTA Foundation is an unprecedented development venture that is overseeing the repatriation of $84 million through programs targeting the poorest children in Kazakhstan. IREX and Save the Children, are developing the BOTA Foundation and implementing its programs, while bolstering local capacity and expertise. The BOTA Foundation’s unique and innovative social investment programs are intended to increase demand and utilization of health and education services by distributing over $50 million in conditional cash transfers and tuition assistance grants, while the foundation increases the capacity of the social service sector through a multi-million-dollar grants program.
- The Conditional Cash Transfers Program (CCT) provides financial incentives to encourage and enable households struggling below the poverty line to access services that improve their children’s development and welfare. In the Fall of 2009, CCT launched pilot projects in two regions of Kazakhstan. Programs will follow in another 3 regions in the coming year.
- The Social Services Program (SSP) awards and manages grants while provides technical assistance to grantee NGOs across Kazakhstan to improve the infrastructure for social service delivery. See IREX’s Civil Society programs page for more information on IREX’s capacity in this area.
- The Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) provides post-secondary education scholarships to young people who would otherwise lack the resources for such study within Kazakhstan. Of 1600 of applicants, IREX awarded 87 TAP tuition assistance grants in September 2009 to poor, deserving students throughout the country. See IREX’s Education programs page for more information on IREX’s capacity in this area.
Through its commitment to increasing local capacity, IREX will ensure Kazakhstan’s seamless inheritance of the foundation in 2013.
Key IREX Objectives
- Improve the health, education, and social welfare of children and youth in the poorest regions of Kazakhstan through BOTA Foundation Programs
- Foster comprehensive technical and human development in Kazakhstan to ensure the sustainability of the BOTA Foundation and its programs
