Here Remains Fragmented Coverage (Representing 47,195 Households)
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@ United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2017 The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNICEF in Kazakhstan. Any information from this publication may be freely reproduced, but proper acknowledgment of the source must be provided. The publication is not for sale. 10A, Beibitshilik str., Block 1 Astana 010000 tel.: +7 7172 32 29 69 www.unicef.kz Barriers to access social assistance and special social services in Kazakhstan Lucy Scott, Georgina Sturge and Babken Babajanian November 2017 Table of contents Acknowledgements...............................................................................................................................................8 Abbreviations............................................................................................................................................................9 Executive summary .............................................................................................................................................10 1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................16 1.1. Background to the research.........................................................................................................................16 1.2. Research objective and questions..............................................................................................................19 1.3. Barriers to social assistance and special social services in Kazakhstan: Insights from literature................................................................................................................................20 1.4. Aim and structure of the report...................................................................................................................23 2. Methodology.....................................................................................................................................................25 2.1.Overview............................................................................................................................................................25 2.2.Quantitative method.....................................................................................................................................25 2.3.Qualitative method.......................................................................................................................................30 Findings Part 1: Barriers to access social assistance....................................................................34 1. Limited awareness of social assistance..........................................................................................................34 1.1 Understanding of eligibility..........................................................................................................................34 1.2 Recommendations...........................................................................................................................................37 2. Information gaps in the application process.................................................................................................39 2.1 General lack of information about the assistance...................................................................................40 2.2 Lack of information about the (income) eligibility criteria...................................................................42 2.3 Recommendations...........................................................................................................................................43 3. Documentation required for applying.............................................................................................................44 3.1 Confusion and lack of guidance about what documents to provide ..................................................45 3.2 Difficulties in obtaining unemployment certification............................................................................47 3.3 Requirements to submit documents on marital status and alimony payments..............................51 3.4 Recommendations...........................................................................................................................................53 4. Restrictive eligibility rules and means testing..............................................................................................55 4.1 Other categorical transfers are included as household income for the purposes of assessing eligibility:..........................................................................................................55 4.2 Part-time, irregular earnings are included in the income assessment...............................................57 4.3 Livestock and cars are barriers to receiving poverty targeted assistance.........................................58 4.4 Recommendations...........................................................................................................................................59 Findings Part 2: Barriers to access special social services.......................................................61 1. Information gaps...................................................................................................................................................66 1.1 Limited information about the application process................................................................................ 67 1.2 Limited information and understanding about the role of social workers......................................67 1.3 Recommendations..........................................................................................................................................68 2. Difficulties with the application process.......................................................................................................69 2.1 Overall complexity and time burden of application procedures........................................................70 2.2 Difficulties with the medical diagnosis procedure.................................................................................71 2.3 Difficulties in attending certification committees..................................................................................72 2.4 Recommendations..........................................................................................................................................74 3. Patchiness of service availability.....................................................................................................................75 3.1 Limited options and lack of explanation for referral.............................................................................75 3.2 Lack of specialists...........................................................................................................................................76 3.3 Delays in receiving certain services and equipment..............................................................................78 3.4 Specific barriers to access sanatoriums for children..............................................................................79 3.5 Recommendations.........................................................................................................................................80 4. Distance and lack of transport..........................................................................................................................81 4.1 Children in rural settlements are isolated from correction and rehabilitation services..............82 4.2 Social workers are assigned to children over a wide geographical area and are not provided with transport..........................................................................................................82 4.3 Transport is not provided to access special social services:................................................................83 4.4 Recommendations..........................................................................................................................................84 5. Stigma.....................................................................................................................................................................87 5.1 The family is ashamed to register their child as disabled or to receive allowances:....................87 5.2 Embarrassment by children to receive special social services...........................................................88 5.3 Hostility of society when people access special social services.........................................................88 5.4 Recommendations.........................................................................................................................................89 Findings Part 3: Expectations and reported requirements for social services and assistance.............90 6. Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................................92 6.1 Conclusions......................................................................................................................................................92 6.2 Policy recommendations...............................................................................................................................94 References................................................................................................................................................................96