NUR-SULTAN. On July 25, 2019, the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan (EC IFAS) held a round table devoted to the discussion of projects for industry analysis, the sectoral qualifications framework and the list of professional standards in the field of water management. The event was organized by EC IFAS in cooperation with CAREC within the USAID “Smart Waters” project.
The meeting was attended by representatives of state bodies including Committee on Water Resources of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, CAREC, the “Atameken” National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, academic community, as well as Associations of workers and employers.
The round table was held in the frames of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population’s project “Development of labor skills and stimulation of workplaces”, thus becoming a continuation of the series of seminars, round tables and trainings organized by the EC IFAS in Kazakhstan in 2016-2018 in cooperation with UNESCO, the OSCE Program Office in Nur-Sultan, CAREC and USAID.
The following presentations were made during the round table:
1. Project analysis of industries in the field of water management
2. Draft Sectoral Qualifications Framework (SQF) for Water Management
3. The draft card of professional qualifications (CPQ) in the field of water management
4. The list of professional standards (PS) in the field of water management, recommended for priority development and recommended experts.
Mr. Amirkhan Kenshimov, Deputy Director of the EC IFAS in Kazakhstan, noted that “The main purpose of CPQ is to serve as an instrument of state and industry policies in the creation and sale of competitive end-use products and efficient use of water resources”. Therefore, the development of such standards and qualifications frameworks is an important step in the proper training of future specialists in the field of water management.
The round table materials will be then sent to the “Atameken” National Chamber of Entrepreneurs in order to pass through the mandatory state procedures.
It is expected that the approved professional standards will further lay the basis for the development of educational programs and curricula at higher education institutions in Kazakhstan.