Integrating the Deaf Community in Kazakhstan

There are limited services to protect and support the hearing impaired community in Kazakhstan. Once individuals complete schooling, few government resources exist to help them function independently alongside other citizens.

The BOTA Foundation is filling this gap through partnering with local NGOs like the Center for Deaf Persons with Disabilities (UMIT) in Almaty. Since 1994, UMIT has been helping hearing impaired individuals fully integrate into society through providing legal and career consultation, vocational and livelihood trainings, and working with caretakers among other services. Last year, UMIT served 375 families.

Impressed by UMIT’s track record of collaborating with the Kazakh government and local businesses to carry out quality services, BOTA awarded UMIT with a $25,000 grant that went towards improving the social status of about 100 deaf children and young adults. Moreover, UMIT received BOTA ‘s trainings to improve organization operations on areas such as: grant management, project management, and book keeping.

In addition to improving the sign language skills of parents with hearing impaired children, UMIT used the grant to work with other important people in the children’s lives, like teachers and social workers. More than 70 parents, teachers and social workers received trainings to enhance their sign language skills -particularly, in the areas of soft skills and safety. For example, they learned how to teach the children how to respond during an earthquake and how to communicate with them when the time comes.

Another component of the grant allowed for UMIT to support 31 young adults with vocational trainings and to secure employment. Within that group of beneficiaries is Madina Urazalirva, an established athlete and beauty pageant contestant that UMIT help land a job with the top school for the hearing impaired in Almaty as a badminton coach. For years, UMIT has encouraged and supported Madina’s talents by helping her enter competitions for the deaf in Kazakhstan and abroad. She has won many awards along the way, including the “Master of Sports of the Republic Kazakhstan.”

“The center has helped me and others realize our dreams. They help us from start to finish- from trainings to obtaining sponsors and translators to moral support. Life should be bright, open, and great. I wish to continue to use my skills in sports, song, and dance."

IREX is building the BOTA Foundation by providing senior technical expertise to ensure that over $100 million effectively reaches the poorest of poor in Kazakhstan.BOTA is an independent not-for-profit NGO that improves the lives of children and youth in Kazakhstan through university scholarships, small cash transfers to impoverished mothers, and grants to local NGOs.