Thousands of Almaty residents assisted by local volunteer groups during the pandemic crisis
Year of the Volunteer in Almaty: A Boost for Community Resilience
Almaty, Kazakhstan, is set to celebrate volunteerism with a series of events aimed at enhancing volunteerism for sustainable development and community resilience, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Year of the Volunteer in Almaty, launched in 2025, features a diverse range of activities.
The main focus of the Year of the Volunteer is on volunteer projects in education and social assistance, the establishment of new volunteer hubs, and events promoting volunteer contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Over 1,000 volunteers, including teachers and students, have participated in projects across various regions, providing assistance in rural student preparation for exams, teaching English, computer skills, and legal literacy.
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program has launched a new Sub-Regional Hub in Almaty to strengthen volunteerism for sustainable development, supporting pandemic recovery and ongoing community needs. The UNICEF School of Volunteering in Almaty has also opened to further volunteer training and capacity-building.
National events and side events, such as the High-Level Political Forum 2025, have highlighted international volunteering's significant role in achieving SDGs, emphasizing youth empowerment, solidarity, and environmental action.
The League of Volunteers of Kazakhstan NGO plays a coordinating role in mobilizing volunteers nationwide, advising on all volunteering-related activities, including the Year of the Volunteer projects and nationwide initiatives. The League actively involves volunteers in social projects within regions surrounding Almaty and beyond, helping underserved communities in education and social support.
During the pandemic, the Almaty city akimat established an emergency volunteer headquarters at the Youth Loft Center, involving volunteer, medical, and public organizations. Over 1,000 volunteers worked across the city, with approximately 100 permanent volunteers involved in the emergency volunteer headquarters.
Volunteers assisted city medical professionals in accommodating arriving foreigners in hospitals and provided support to over 80 residents who were infected with the coronavirus but asymptomatic, ensuring the delivery of necessary medication. Public monitoring was conducted in 166 facilities, with violations found in 80 of them.
In addition, over 4,115 vulnerable and socially disadvantaged city residents have been assisted, with 193 families receiving medical masks, and 9,972 food packages distributed in major supermarkets. Around 1,000 volunteers monitored public places and took measures to limit the operation of enterprises upon detecting violations.
A functioning website for volunteers in the city, almaty-volunteers.kz, is available, and over 26,000 city residents in Almaty received assistance during the pandemic from volunteer organizations.
The events are developed and synchronized in line with tasks outlined by the Head of State, focusing on various themes like "Continuity", "Health", "Clean World", "Precious Heritage", "Care", "Education", "Hope", corporate volunteering, and social volunteering for 2 hours a week. Bakhytzhan Sagintayev, the former Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, has also answered questions from Almaty residents.
The Year of the Volunteer in Almaty serves as a platform to celebrate and expand volunteer efforts, particularly those aiding pandemic recovery and advancing education and sustainable development. The League of Volunteers of Kazakhstan, alongside UNV and UNICEF, organizes and supports these initiatives to ensure broad volunteer engagement and impact.
- The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program in Almaty, launched a Sub-Regional Hub to strengthen volunteerism for sustainable development, specifically focusing on science and health-and-wellness, as part of the initiatives to support pandemic recovery.
- In line with the tasks outlined by the Head of State, the events during the Year of the Volunteer in Almaty are developed with themes such as "Health," emphasizing the importance of health-and-wellness in the community and aiming to promote science education through various volunteer projects.
