What worries Atyrau residents: 240 ways to improve life in the city

The Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia, being an Agency of social technologies, since 2009 with the financial support of TCO helps active citizens to solve social problems through grant projects and support of social entrepreneurs. A good example is the program of development of social entrepreneurship "Sarkara" in Atyrau and Zhylyoi district, implemented from 2016. The program provides for the whole cycle of support for social entrepreneurs: selection of applications, training, competition for funding for projects, exchange of experience and mentoring. 

Working in the framework of the project, EFCA always tries to reckon with the opinion of the residents and see the actual topics. In order to take into account the opinion of all segments of the population and understand what problems are most concerned about the population, the Fund held 9 meetings with young people, urban activists, and vulnerable groups, covering about 100 people.

Meetings were held in the format of "world cafe", which allows you to generate the maximum number of ideas on a given topic. The topic of discussion - social problems of Kazakhstan and ways of their solution.

Summing up, we can note that the most ideas of the projects were proposed for the vulnerable groups of the population (107 ideas out of 240 proposed) - elderly, disabled, orphans, single mothers, large families and homeless people and animals. For the first time in such a survey raised the problems of homeless people and animals, the lack of shelters and charitable assistance. A group of animal defenders in Atyrau has already formed and is working, but there is no such support for homeless people.

"We have homeless people, there are a lot of them, they are mostly people who sold all their livelihood for alcohol. They have no housing, work, nowhere to eat or sleep, especially in winter. One of them in our yard, he used to work shifts, and he even had a family. And now no one cares about him... " says a participant of the session.

The issue of socialization and leisure of older people was raised earlier, but not so confidently. Several projects have now been proposed to harness the potential of people of retirement and pre-retirement age by involving them as experts in working with children and young people. It was also proposed to develop age tourism and personal development opportunities for the elderly.

People of Atyrau love their city, and because of that, they have many ideas on how to improve it (75 ideas from 240). Basically, it is a question of an accomplishment and gardening, improving public transport and cultural and leisure activities of citizens. Buses are offered to be equipped with air conditioning and classical music, improve their schedule and make warm stops. In the field of leisure-to open new museums and parks, dance and yard areas. Was first proposed the idea of eco - ethno tourism – Yurt hotel and ethno parking on the border with Astrakhan region (Russia), construction of beach areas available to residents. Also, residents of the city would like to meet and discuss the issues of the city development with the authorities: perhaps they were inspired by the example of Astana or Almaty in this issue, where the authorities communicate with the population through social networks, meetings and discussion platforms. 

Atyrau families are statistically the most large, with an average of 4-6 children in the family, but there is not a lot of entertainment for children in the city. Those who can afford to travel, take children to Almaty, Astana or abroad. 58 project ideas were proposed for young people and children. Among them are career guidance, mass sports, etiquette training and programming, the opening of a marriage Dating Agency and exchange programs with foreign students and schoolchildren. The most original of them is the opening of the race track to "let off steam", and youth television.

We thank all those who took part in our sessions and shared their vision of the future for Atyrau, and invite readers to follow the link to see the entire list of generated ideas. Perhaps some of them will interest you, and you will make your contribution to the development of Atyrau.

Come with your social business idea, participate in the development of social entrepreneurship "Zharkyra" and get your free credit for the project.