Author: Maiya Shuakbayeva
Mentor: Ainur Koskina
The residents of the village of Kuzmino in Pavlodar Region are saving their aul from extinction through their own efforts. In the summer of last year, only one student remained at the local school, and the closure of the school was almost a foregone conclusion. The villagers turned Kuzmino into a crisis centre for single mothers and victims of domestic violence. They provided women in need with housing, employment, and everything necessary for life. Unlike many state programmes, the initiative of Kuzmino’s residents has delivered tangible results: the school now has 13 students and nearly as many preschoolers. The crisis village differs from other centres and shelters: women who find themselves in difficult life situations are not restricted in how long they can stay. They can settle there permanently, with each woman provided both a home and a job.
Over the past three years, 116 villages have disappeared from the country’s map. According to the Bureau of National Statistics, there were 6,295 villages in early 2023; by January 2024, this number had dropped to 6,256, and by January of the current year, to 6,179. According to forecasts from the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan, this negative trend will continue, with the number of villages projected to fall to around 5,900 by 2027.
*The original video was produced in Russian
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