On June 1, 2018, a large-scale campaign started in Kazakhstan aimed at training the country citizens to computer literacy.

Among the priority courses that each Kazakhstani citizen will always need in his/her online life, there are the courses training to usage of e-Government (eGov.kz ) and Open Government OpenGov.kz portals

National Information Technologies JSC takes part in training the citizens to the informational and transactional skills in Open Government.

“Within May 2018, NIT has successfully trained 3500 teachers throughout the country, who themselves will from now forth conduct training the public. Thanks to training the teachers as well as to handout materials and programs developed by NIT, in the period June 1 to August 29, 2018, the regional and district akimats will train more than half million citizens. On May 31, 2018, we trained 24 disabled persons in North Kazakhstan region. In the cities where the need for additional teachers, our regional IT centers’ specialists will be involved as teachers. Anyone who has mastered the “Open Government” training course is now, upon connecting to the Internet, able to use all 4 components of the portal, view the needed government agencies’ data, take part in discussing the draft budgets, laws and regulations, and also send requests and applications to agencies. By providing information through OpenGov.kz portal, the Government is gaining more citizens’ trust. And, while to date, over 7 thousand citizens per month in average access the Open Government portal, then after improving the digital literacy, this number, I am sure, will be growing”, Asset Turyssov, NIT JSC Chairman of the Board  remarked.

What is Open Government portal and why should the public know and use it?

Pursuant to the Law “On Access to Information”, the “Open Government” project (OpenGov.kz) was implemented, which enables citizens getting involved in government operation, and also it enables citizens being online when staying in rural localities or abroad and submitting requests to government agencies, participating in discussion of drafts and in web-conferences or obtaining the required data. 

The major component is “Open Data”which contains all the information on statistics and analysis, and also reference information for all spheres and branches. Moreover, users can submit requests for publication of open datasets through the portal.

A wide range of capabilities is provided by ”Open Dialogue” component where citizens can post their questions on the blog-platform of government agencies` executives, and also participate in web-conferences. To date, over 223 000 applications and requests have been submitted to the Open Dialogue. Government agencies have conducted over 350 public web-conferences.

“Open Laws & Regulations”and “Open Budgets” components were launched to enable participating in discussion of draft bills and laws & regulations and budget programs. People can express their opinions and participate in drafting. Over 26 thousand draft bills and over 27 thousand draft budget programs were published on the portal for discussion.

Moreover, Open Government portal provides reports on the government agencies` performed activities and achievements, reports on budget implementation, external audit results and reports on the quality of public services delivery.

It should be mentioned that “Open Government” detailed video lessons are publicly available at kaztube.kz video hosting.