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Good practice Imported

Kazakhstan Women's Entrepreneurship Development Centres — Generation Equality Commitment

Kazakhstan · Astana · See the Kazakhstan profile · See the Astana profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 67% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Kazakhstan opened 20 Women's Entrepreneurship Development Centres across all regions by 2023, delivering 84,000+ consultations in 2022 alone. Backed by ADB, UNDP, and $6M in national budget, the network supports a country where women already account for 44.6% of SME owners.

3 centres
WEDC pilot centres opened (2021)
14 centres
WEDCs operating across Kazakhstan's regions (March 2022)
20 centres
WEDCs operating nationally (December 2023)
84,000 consultations
Information-support consultations delivered (2022)
more than 17,000 consultations
Business-services consultations delivered (2022)
approximately 6 million USD
National budget approved to sustain WEDC operations through 2025 (approved December 2022)
44.6 %
Share of SME entrepreneurs who are women (2021)
Kazakhstan Women's Entrepreneurship Development Centres — Generation Equality Commitment

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
National Commission for Women's Affairs, Family and Population Policy (Kazakhstan); UNDP Kazakhstan; Asian Development Bank
Period
2021–2023
Keywords
government, entrepreneurship, SME support, women's economic empowerment

Context

Kazakhstan made a formal commitment at the 2021 UN Women Generation Equality Forum to establish Women's Entrepreneurship Development Centres (WEDCs) in every region of the country, as part of the Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights. Women account for 44.6% of all SME entrepreneurs nationally (2021) and over 30% of enterprise heads, among the highest shares in Central Asia.

Activities

Three pilot centres opened in 2021 in Turkestan, Almaty and Mangystau regions, co-funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Kazakhstan, in partnership with the National Commission for Women's Affairs and Family and Population Policy under the President and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Atameken. The centres provide business mentoring, legal advice, and access to financing through one-stop centres. A parallel EBRD programme has provided subsidised loans and management training.

Results

By March 2022, 14 centres had opened across Kazakhstan's 14 regions. By December 2023, the network had grown to 20 centres. In 2022 alone, the centres delivered 84,000 consultations on information support and more than 17,000 consultations on business services. In December 2022, the Kazakh government approved approximately $6 million from the national budget to sustain WEDC operations through 2025, transitioning from ADB/UNDP co-financing to domestic funding.

Conclusions

No independent impact evaluation of the WEDCs had been published as of 2024, limiting causal attribution; UNDP Kazakhstan monitoring data and media reporting confirm sustained operation at scale.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Approximately $6 million approved from Kazakhstan's national budget in December 2022 to sustain WEDC operations through 2025, transitioning from initial ADB/UNDP co-financing.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — 3 pilot centres opened in 2021; expanded to 14 centres (all regions) by March 2022; 20 centres by December 2023.
Staffing & skills
Implemented in partnership with Kazakhstan's National Commission for Women's Affairs and Family and Population Policy and the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs Atameken, co-funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and UNDP Kazakhstan

Conditions for success

  • Transition from ADB/UNDP co-financing to approximately $6 million in domestic budget funding (approved December 2022) to sustain operations through 2025, signalling political and financial sustainability
  • Strong pre-existing base of female entrepreneurship (44.6% of SME entrepreneurs, over 30% of enterprise heads) providing demand for services
  • One-stop centre model combining business mentoring, legal advice and access to financing
  • Complementary EBRD programme providing subsidised loans and management training

Common failure modes

  • No independent impact evaluation of the WEDCs had been published as of 2024, limiting causal attribution of outcomes to the programme

Where it fits

Governance type
national government programme with multilateral co-financing (ADB, UNDP, EBRD)
Scale
national (all 14 regions of Kazakhstan)
Income level
upper-middle-income (Kazakhstan)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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