Rapid Gender Assessment for the COVID-19 situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan

The global COVID-19 crisis affected severely the region of Europe and Central Asia, almost all countries were imposed partial or total lockdowns, quarantine measures and school closures, straining the medical, economic and social systems. The outbreak is expected to bring about severe impact on the region. The long period of recovery is expected by all countries including recovery of national health systems, social protection mechanisms, businesses, and education.

In preparation for the COVID-19 response, Women Count Global Programme developed a rapid assessment tool to assess the impact of coronavirus pandemic on main challenges faced by women and men, including their economic empowerment and vulnerability, and how the changing situation is affecting women and men livelihood. In Kazakhstan, the rapid gender assessment has been conducted by UN Women and UNFPA Kazakhstan jointly in April - May 2020.

The survey findings will be used to support initial response planning to address the gendered nature of pandemics; to identify key priorities to support the most vulnerable groups in outbreak situation; to understand different dimensions of how affected people experience and cope with the outbreak. Thus, this survey can serve as one of the main data sources to inform a broader national socio-economic impact analysis of the crisis on individual/household level.