Advancing collaborative practice research with children, youth and families in poverty in Kazakhstan and Central Asia

Project location : Almaty, Kazakhstan

Donor/Funder of the project : APSS Large Project Funding Scheme

Project Period : 2022 to 2025

Description of the project :

This project is a collaborative project between PolyU and the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) to address the needs of children, youth and their families in poverty in Kazakhstan through practice research. The project aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. Respond to the needs of children, youth, and families in poverty in Kazakhstan through the co-creation of a culturally-appropriate social work practice model by actively engaging educators, researchers, practitioners, service-users, and policy makers in an intensive collaborative practice research process grounded in lived experience.
2. Foster academic and professional exchange among social work educators, practitioners and policy makers in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and the international social work community on issues relating to families in poverty and to explore practice models that are appropriate to the local context. 
3. Deepen academic and research collaboration between PolyU and KazNU on social work and social development, with the vision of establishing a joint education and research centre that targets Central Asia and the Belt and Road region.