Kazakhstan

In Atyrau, the holistic Zangar initiative filled critical gaps for youth in life skills and science, technology, and math (STEM) education. With training relevant to the local job market, participants were prepared to succeed. Mindful of long-term programmatic sustainability, we also led a coalition of local community-based organizations and helped build their capacity to serve vulnerable youth. By empowering young people with the skills to be personally and professional involved in their communities, we also worked to restore important social engagement. From the start, the Zangar initiative was driven by youth and the local community–for example, they voted on the name, which means “mighty” in Kazakh.