Oxford Policy Management has conducted two rounds of qualitative evaluations of three poverty-reduction and human development programmes run by the BOTA Foundation in Kazakhstan: the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme, the Social Services Programme and the Tuition Assistance Programme. To evaluate the CCT, Oxford Policy Management also conducted a two-round quantitative survey and has completed a study of costs across all programmes. The studies included a review of BOTA's awareness-raising activities, the application process, payment mechanisms, support to beneficiaries and reporting requirements (and, for the CCT, a qualitative assessment of impact). The $65 million CCT programme provides short-term cash handouts to poor households with children of pre-school age, children with disabilities, pregnant and lactating women and teenage school-leavers. Oxford Policy Management has completed an impact evaluation and also an evaluation of BOTA's operations and targeting performance using a randomised control trial with a baseline survey in 2011 and a follow-up survey of 2,300 households in 2012. Each report produced by Oxford Policy Management includes a description of the methodology and results of the fieldwork as well as conclusions and recommendations.
Among the care-relevant observations of the reports, Oxford Policy Management has found that the BOTA programme, combined with State social, health and education services, appears to be having, depending on the family, either a neutral or a largely positive impact on care provided to children at home, but the consistency and extent of this impact across programme areas appears to be dependent on the knowledge and skills of individual volunteers and the length of time a household has been enrolled. The reports also found that BOTA will provide grants to NGOs working in particular areas, such as support to 18-year-old care leavers who may have no job and no home; parenting support to care leavers who have had their own children at a young age; support to “social orphans’ – children who are living with their families but whose needs are being neglected and who are not receiving adequate care and protection; services to support children who are being abused in their families; and services that involve the elderly, for example orphans visiting the elderly once a week and spending time with them. However, applicants may not be aware that BOTA is willing to fund and actively encourage such projects. All six qualitative studies, along with the baseline survey and other reports, are available on the Oxford Policy Management website that can be accessing by clicking on the link above.