PROVISION FOR POST PROJECT EVALUATIONS FOR THE
UNITED NATIONS DEMOCRACY FUND
Contract NO.PD:C0110/10
EVALUATION REPORTUDF-KAZ-08-256-Human Rights Education for the Police(Kazakhstan)Date: 27 February 2013239

Acknowledgements
The evaluators would like to thank the Kazakh International Bureau for
Human Rights and Rule of Law (BHR) and its implementing partners (theKazakh Ministry of Interior and the Human Rights Commission under the
President of Kazakhstan), who took the time to share their experiences
and information with the evaluation team. In particular, the team would
like to thank BHR’s acting director Ms. Roza Akylbekova, project coordinators Ms. Victoria Tyuleneva and Ms. Mariya Goloborodkina, andthe head of BHR’s educational center, Mr. Yuriy Gussakov, for theirassistance, information and logistical support. All errors and omissions
remain the responsibility of the authors.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this report are those of the evaluators. They do
not represent those of UNDEF or of any of the institutions referred to in
the report.
Authors
This report was written by Dieter Wagner and Jan Salko. Mr. Landis
MacKellar provided editorial and methodological advice and quality
assurance with the support of Ms. Aurelie Ferreira, Evaluation Manager
at Transtec. Mr. Eric Tourres was Project Director at Transtec.

240

Table of Contents
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
II. INTRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT(i) Project and evaluation objectives(ii) Evaluation methodology(iii) Development context
III. PROJECT STRATEGY(i) Project strategy and approach(ii) Logical framework
IV. EVALUATION FINDINGS(i) Relevance(ii) Effectiveness(iii) Eficiency(iv) Impact(v) Sustainability(vi) UNDEF Value Added
V. CONCLUSIONS
VI. RECOMMENDATIONS

241

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY(i) Background
The project ran from 1 April 2010 - 31 May 2012, with a total grant of
USD 175,000. It was designed by the Kazakh International Bureau for
Human Rights and Rule of Law (BHR) and implemented in partnershipwith the Kazakh Ministry of Interior, the Human Rights Commission
under the President of Kazakhstan, the Danish Institute for Human Rights(DIHR) and the Tajik Bureau for Human Rights. The target populationconsisted of academic staff of Kazakh police training institutions, i.e.
the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in Almaty, the
MIA Academy in Karaganda and the Academy of the Financial Policein Astana.1 As deined in the Project Document the overall objective wasto improve human rights protection through the elaboration of a humanrights education course for introduction into the curricula of Kazakh
institutions training future police oficers. Accordingly, BHR aimed forthe “logical chain” of four key outcomes:• Human rights manuals in Kazakh language shall be available forthe training of future police oficers;• Police faculty members shall ensure good quality humanrights training for students of police academies, applying theinternational experience they gained through the project;• The state shall directly participate in fostering a human rights
culture among police oficers;• The community (i.e. the population) shall have more conidence inpolice oficers and shall contribute to human rights implementation
with concerted efforts.
(ii) Assessment of the project
Project design and objectives were relevant. Measures adequately
addressed issues pertaining to the absence of quality training andIn accordance with the inal narrative report two MIA schools in Aktobe and Kostanay were added with theapproval of UNDEF at a later stage to the project’s target group.
1242

materials, as conirmed by the grantee’s initial contextual analysis. The
project involved teaching faculty staff of police recruits, who follow
a career path requiring completion of studies at Kazakhstan’s higher
educational institutions. Outputs aimed to ensure that graduates will
dispose of the consolidated knowledge necessary to execute their duties,
both in accordance with practical needs and international human rights
standards.
Despite signiicant delays under the component supporting the curriculum
development the project was effective. With the opportunities provided
for exchange of practical experience in the course of international study
visits and the range of topics covered in the workshops and training
materials, the project’s implementation partnership made an effective,
if not essential, contribution towards the inclusion of the human rights
subject into the country’s future police academy curriculum.
As the project’s ultimate impact (i.e. the mandatory introduction ofhuman rights training into the police academies’ curriculum) remains
unachieved, indirect beneiciary quantities at this point cannot be taken
into consideration to assess the project’s eficiency. The resulting highunit cost of USD 1,193 per beneiciary puts the potential beneit of
eficient project conduct at risk.
In the absence of results-oriented monitoring documentation that
demonstrates project progress in relation to the grantee’s contextual
analysis (= baseline) or of data assessing the likely impact prospects
generated by the project, evaluators gathered testimonials of beneiciaries
documenting the project’s potential impact. Trained faculty staff claim
to already apply new skills and knowledge in current teaching, across avariety of disciplines and subjects, which includes the use of anecdotes,
examples and literature provided by the project and of the suggested
methodological approach of interactive teaching.
The sustainability of the project’s outcomes appears to be at risk,
as ive months after the project closing date the Ministry of Education243has still not undertaken the actions necessary to oblige higher training
institutions to offer future Kazakh police oficers human rights courses
based on the project’s outputs. At the time of the evaluation visit still nolaunch date had been secured and almost 2,600 training manual copies
were idle on stock. With plans for future training, review and productionof new training manuals yet to be conirmed (to keep pace with national
legislative developments), there is a serious risk that knowledge will belost and that existing course material becomes out of date.
(iii) Conclusions•

We found that exposure to international experience through a
combination of study visits and workshops and the concept of the
training manuals were appropriate to facilitate the generation of an
informed and up-to-date human rights perspective. We therefore
conclude that the project’s design was relevant to provide a direct
solution to the absence of good quality, practitioner-oriented,
Kazakh-language human rights education.

•

Although the line authority for higher education did neither
veto the objectives nor the time plan during the project’s initialconsultations, the perspective as to when human rights training
will become a mandatory discipline for Kazakhstan’s police
academies at the time of the evaluation visit still remained vague.
Based on our observations related to eficiency and sustainability
we conclude that the grantee and its implementing partners
did not foresee and maintain ongoing communication andcoordination with the Ministry of Education to secure its
timely (and political) approval.

(iv) Recommendations•

It remains unclear why the Ministry of Education has not approved
the inclusion of project outputs into the curriculum and the
mandatory launch of human rights training. To avoid the risks244

we noted in our comments on eficiency and sustainability werecommend to the grantee to remind the approval authoritythat integration of the present project’s training manuals
into the curriculum of higher education institutions is fully
consistent with government policy, since recommended by the
Human Rights Commission in its “Report on the Human Rights
Situation” in 2011, and approved by the President of the Republic
in May 2012 (resolution No 32-42.157).
•

The present experience highlights that applying an inclusive
partnership approach, to the extent possible, is vital for theachievement of democracy development project objectives. Basedon our observations on sustainability, we therefore recommend
to the grantee and to UNDEF to ensure that future projectapplications include speciic measures promoting cooperationand ownership, in case acceptance of project deliverables is ofconcern to multiple government institutions.

245II. INTRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT
i. The project and evaluation objectives
This report contains the evaluation of the project entitled “Human Rights
Education for the Police”. The project ran from 1 April 2010 - 31 May
2012 (including a 2 month no-cost extension), with a total grant of USD
175,000 (out of which UNDEF retained USD 17,500 for monitoring andevaluation).

Orientation map2 to indicate police academies participating in the project: MIA
academies of Almaty, Karaganda, Aktobe and Kostanay; Academy of the Financial
Police in Astana3

The project was designed by the Kazakh International Bureau for Human
Rights and Rule of Law (BHR). It was implemented in partnership with2

Map published by Bernard Tom under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unreported
license; source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kazakhstan_provinces_and_province_capitals.
svg#ilelinks
3
BHR’s training for academic staff from these ive locations took place in: Almaty, Karaganda and Astana.

246

the Kazakh Ministry of Interior, the Human Rights Commission under
the President of Kazakhstan, the Danish Institute for Human Rights(DIHR) and the Tajik Bureau for Human Rights. As deined in the
Project Document, the overall objective was to improve human rights
protection through the elaboration of a human rights education course
for introduction into the curricula of Kazakh institutions training future
police oficers. The target population consisted of academic staff ofKazakh police training institutions, i.e. the Academy of the Ministry ofInternal Affairs (MIA) in Almaty, the MIA Academy in Karaganda andthe Academy of the Financial Police in Astana.4
UNDEF and Transtec have agreed on a framework governing theevaluation process, set out in the Operational Manual. According to
the manual, the objective of the evaluation is to “ undertake in-depth
analysis of UNDEF-funded projects to gain a better understanding ofwhat constitutes a successful project which will in turn help UNDEF
devise future project strategies. Evaluations also assist stakeholders todetermine whether projects have been implemented in accordance withthe project document and whether anticipated project outputs have beenachieved”.

(ii) Evaluation methodology
The evaluation was conducted by an international expert, working witha national expert, under the terms of the framework agreement between
UNDEF and Transtec. In accordance with the agreed process, theevaluation aimed to answer questions across the Development AssistanceCommittee (DAC) criteria of relevance, effectiveness, eficiency, impact,
and sustainability, as well as the additional criterion of UNDEF value
added (see Annex 1).
The evaluation took place from October - December 2012 with the ield
In accordance with the inal narrative report two MIA schools in Aktobe and Kostanay were added with theapproval of UNDEF at a later stage to the project’s target group.
4247

work in Kazakhstan conducted from 5 to 9 November. The evaluators
reviewed available project documentation and contextual / backgroundmaterials on human rights in Kazakhstan (Annex 2). Initial and inal
interviews were held with former project staff of BHR’s Almaty ofice,involving BHR’s acting director and its chief of human rights advocacy.
Field work focused on meetings and exchanges with representativesof the implementing partners and staff members of the participating
academic institutions, to conirm the project beneiciaries’ experiences
and to obtain updates of their most recent activities. These interviews
and group meetings were carried out in the cities of Almaty, Karaganda
and Astana, involving 2 implementing partner representatives (andcontributors), academic staff (2 contributors/trainers and 3 trainees) andthe head of BHR’s educational center (Annex 3).
(iii) Development context
Kazakhstan was the last of the former Soviet Union republics to declare
its independence.5 The political system is a presidential republic, witha very centralized form of government, and a constitution that grants
the president considerable control over legislature, judiciary, andlocal governments. The country’s irst president, who was also thelast communist-era leader, has been repeatedly re-elected since 1991.
However, none of the elections observed by the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have met the international standards.6
Under the current constitutional rules, President Nursultan Nazarbayev
may serve an indeinite number of ive-year terms.
In terms of economic development, Kazakhstan since the early days of its
independence has maintained a strategic focus based on market economy
and integration into the global economy. Upper-middle income country
status was achieved in 2009, with a gross national income of US$ 6,920
per capita. Assets for the rapid economic growth include oil and mineral5

December 6, 1991
Source http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/kazakhstan

6248

resources. With low domestic consumption of oil and exports averaging
one million barrels per day, Kazakhstan is a signiicant player in world oil
markets. Strong economic performance from 2000 to 2007, with averagereal GDP growth of 10 percent, was buoyed by high world prices for
crude oil.7 The period of high economic growth signiicantly decreased
the population proportion to below the government deined poverty line,from 35 percent in 1999 to 8.2% in 2009.8
Although the achievements of Kazakhstan in terms of economic growth
are widely recognized, the human rights situation remains an area ofconcern for many outside and non-governmental observers. On a scaleof 1 to 7 (1 being the highest grade) Freedom House9 ranks Kazakhstan
with a 6 in “political rights” and a 5 on “civil liberties”, denoting as “notfree” in 2011.10 At the international level, Kazakhstan is bound by theInternational Bill of Human Rights, as it has ratiied the two overarchingcovenants that between them cover the whole range of civil, cultural,
economic, political and social rights. It has also ratiied most of the main
human rights conventions.11 At the national level, Kazakhstan adopted a
National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) for 2009 - 2012 whichconstitutes a consolidated program of planned concrete steps for the
improvement of legislation and practices of its application, the national
system of protection of human rights and the education of the population
regarding human rights and mechanisms of their protection.12
Notwithstanding the importance of ratifying international human rights
instruments and related national policies, the current challenge lies intheir proper implementation. The NHRAP recognizes that violationsof the constitutional rights of citizens by law-enforcement agencies are
Source http://www.fao.org/ileadmin/user_upload/Europe/documents/Publications/AI_briefs/Kazakhstan_ai_en.pdf
8Source http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=kz&v=69
9
Freedom House is “an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom aroundthe world.”
10
Source http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2011/kazakhstan
11
Source http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12343&LangID=E
12
Source http://www.undp.kz/useriles/plan_en.pdf
7249

widespread. Most common violations are illegal detention, unwarrantableentry and search of homes and unlawful methods of investigation such as
the use of violence and other degrading treatment. The NHRAP identiies
low levels of professional training of oficers of criminal investigation andlack of elementary knowledge of criminal legislation and international
treaties ratiied by Kazakhstan as the main causes of the violations ofhuman rights by law-enforcement agents.
The year 2011 saw the worst confrontation in recent history, when on
December 16th police and government troops opened ire on a publicgathering of civilians, including striking oil workers, in the southwestern city of Zhanaozen.13 At least 15 people were killed and morethan 100 seriously injured. One protester was killed later in a separate
incident.14 A 20-day state of emergency was imposed by the president
and all communications with the town were temporarily cut off. Theinternational NGO Human Rights Watch documented allegations of
ill-treatment and torture by people who witnessed or were subjected tophysical abuse by police in custody between December 16 and 19.15 These
individuals described how police variously kicked and beat detainees
with truncheons, stripped them naked and walked on them, and subjected
them to freezing temperatures. During the trial defendants testiied thatthey had suffered beatings, suffocation, psychological pressure, andother ill-treatment, apparently to coerce testimony against themselves orothers. One of those detained, 50-year-old Bazarbai Kenzhebaev, diedfrom a ruptured small intestine and blunt abdominal trauma, injuries heapparently sustained in custody after he was detained on December 16.16
The Prosecutor General’s Ofice opened a criminal investigation on
the use of force by security forces after video footage of the events was
released and invited the UN to join an impartial investigation into theviolence.
13

Source http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/17/kazakhstan-investigate-violence-oil-rich-western-region
Source http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/kazakstan/report-201215
Source http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/01/kazakhstan-letter-prosecutor-general-regarding-decemberevents-zhanaozen-and-shetpe
16
Source http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/22/kazakhstan-detainee-dies-after-police-beating
14250

III. PROJECT STRATEGY(i) Project strategy and approach
The over-all objective of the “Human Rights Education for the Police”
project, as deined in the Project Document (UDF-KAZ-08-256) inFebruary 2010, was to improve human rights protection through theelaboration of a human rights education course for introduction into
the curricula of Kazakh institutions training future police oficers.
Accordingly, BHR’s strategic approach aimed for a “logical chain” offour key outcomes:••••

Human rights manuals in Kazakh language shall be available forthe training of future police oficers;
Police faculty members shall ensure good quality humanrights training for students of police academies, applying theinternational experience they gained through the project;
The state shall directly participate in fostering a human rights
culture among police oficers;
The community (i.e. the population) shall have more conidence inpolice oficers and shall contribute to human rights implementation
with concerted efforts.

According to BHR, human rights education was previously neither
a training subject taught in its own right nor a topic the studentsof Kazakhstan’s existing police academies knew much about. The
grantee therefore intended to develop a course which is compliant withinternational human rights standards. Closely collaborating with the
MIA’s academia, BHR expected:• the introduction of human rights education to become mandatory
for all academies training future police oficers;• continued evolution of the training subject to be secured beyond
the life time of the project.

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BHR promotes the observance of civil and political rights and freedoms
and the development of civil society. Established in 1993, the NGO
maintains thirteen regional branches in all regions of Kazakhstan andover time has become one of the main players promoting human rights
in the country and Central Asia. Working towards the alignment withinternational human rights standards, BHR’s operations are steeredby two centers: the “Human Rights Protection Center,” which focuseson an analysis of legislation, human rights consultation, human rights
program development; and the “Informational and Educational Center,”which develops and implements educational programs and informational
campaigns.
The most recent educational initiatives implemented by BHR haveaddressed two distinct target groups of police oficer candidates.
Human rights education at secondary-level special institutions was the
subject of a project supported by OSCE and led to the development oftraining programs addressing e.g. future district police oficers, prison
guards and penitentiary oficers. The present UNDEF-funded projecttargeted Kazakhstan’s higher educational institutions, i.e. universities
and academies educating future police oficers who will be involved ininvestigative activities.
(ii) Logical framework
The Project Document translates BHR’s programmatic approach into a
structured plan of project activities and intended outcomes, including
the achievement of the project’s overall and speciic objectives. The
framework below aims to capture the project logic systematically, also
attempting to eliminate confusion between intended outcomes, impacts
and long-term objectives, which evaluators at times observed in the
Project Document’s result framework.

252

Project Activities &Interventions

Intended Outcomes

Medium
Impacts

1. Consultations

Introductionof
Human Rights course
into the curricula ofhigher educational
institutions
andtraining of future
policeoficers
discussed and agreed

Direct participationof the state infostering a humanrightscultureamong
policeoficers

Separate manuals on:

First-time-everavailabilityof
consolidated
Human
Rightstraining material forhigher educational
institutions,inparticularin
Kazakh language

Negotiations with the
MIA, the National
Human
RightsCommission and theMinistry of Education

Introductory working
meeting to discuss anddevelop a strategic
action plan regarding
the development ofmanuals for use at
highereducational
institutions
2.
Curriculum
Development
Development of themanuals for academic
staff and students

Humanrightsas a police duty
andfunction(methodologicalrecommendations,for academic staff)

Translation
into
Kazakh language

Production, both inRussian and Kazakh
languages

Ensuring
andrespecting humanrights in practice(for students)

253

Term

Human
rightscourse introduced
into the curricula ofhigher educational
institutions(i.e.
universities, police
academies)

Long
Term
Development
Objectives

The
community(i.e. the population)
shall have moreconidenceinpolice oficers andshallcontributeto human rights
implementation
withconcertedefforts

3. Training of Trainers
Organization of study
tours to Tajikistan and
Denmark for academic
staff involved in the
training of future
police oficers

Policefacultymembers capable toprovide good quality
human rights training
to students of police
academies

Faculty members
apply
the
international
experiencetheygained through the
project

Human
Rightstraining provided
on an annual basis(for up to 900 future
police oficers)

Workshops held foracademic staff in
Almaty, Astana andKaraganda

IV. EVALUATION FINDINGS(i) RelevanceBaseline Situation
BHR relied on three sources to underpin its initial assessment: (i)information gathered in the context of previous activities (e.g. research
for its human rights education program targeting secondary-levelinstitutions and personal observations made by staff of BHR’s Astana
ofice when training law enforcement oficers); (ii) interviews with
MIA representatives following an oficial enquiry made by BHR (toconirm e.g. the subjects covered by the curriculum of higher educational
institutions); and (iii) research on websites and other public sources of
information maintained by the MIA and relevant academic institutions(to establish e.g. the annual number of police oficer graduates).

254

BHR’s baseline indings-“Human Rights” as a discipline is not taught at the police
academies of Astana, Almaty and Karaganda.

-

In the absence of relevant knowledge and experience, the faculty
members of these academies are unable to provide good quality
human rights training.

-

900 police oficers graduate annually, without acquiring humanrights knowledge. There are no training materials, neither forteachers nor students. Consequently, young police oficers areunable to apply human rights adequately.

This “material” baseline led the grantee to the conclusion that without
good quality human rights education as part of the MIA’s curricula,supported by consolidated human rights reference materials, (1) future
police academy graduates will be unable to execute their duties inaccordance with international human rights standards and, subsequently,(2) the population’s conidence in Kazakhstan’s police oficers will not
improve.
The project response
Evaluators found various examples of relevant project design, addressing
the above three baseline aspects:
1. Consultations
BHR’s strategic approach was to integrate state institutions (representativesof the Ministry of the Interior and the Human Rights Commission under
the President of Kazakhstan) in the project implementation process togenerate ownership, thus improving the likelihood of acceptance andcontinued use of the project’s planned deliverables. By involving state255

level key actors not only in project steering activities, but also in thedelivery of actual outputs (through co-authorship of certain training
manual chapters), the project grantee aspired to achieve:• academies and universities to become obliged to provide humanrights education to future police oficers;• human rights training to continue to evolve after the end of the
project.
2. Curriculum Development
Police academies and universities did not dispose of consolidated
training materials to raise awareness among future police oficers thatthe protection of human rights was their function and duty. Those higher
educational institutions that actually offered optional human rights
courses would leave the choice of training materials to its faculty staff
and would provide the training mostly in Russian language. Educational
materials or training for police oficer candidates in Kazakh language
were unavailable.
Accordingly, the consultations between BHR, MIA and Human Rights
Commission arrived at a choice of training manual topics and associatedco-authors ensuring a combination of academic expertise and practicalield experience. In other words, the objective was to develop training
material which clariied that human rights values are constitutionally
guaranteed, that the police is at the service of its citizens and that therefore
police oficers are committed to certain rules of professional conduct
when it comes to the execution of typical functions (e.g. investigation,
detention, the use of physical force or arms), the interaction with people(i.e. indiscriminate, regardless of social background or ethnicity) and thehandling of emergency situations. Co-authorship by experts from the
Human Rights Commission, the MIA’s Education Division, the MIA’s B.
Baysenov Academy and the Bolashak University’s faculty of law; as wellas translation of all outputs from Russian into Kazakh language aimed at
acceptance and widespread use of the training manuals.

256

Human Rights Training Manual(Student Edition)

3. Training of Trainers
The Tajik tutor colleagues whom trainees met during their irst study visit
estimated that following the introduction of dedicated training the amountof human rights violations committed by police oficers had dropped by
one third. Accordingly, exposure to international experience through a
combination of study visits (Tajikistan, Denmark) and workshops wasmeant to generate an informed perspective among potential training
manual authors and trainers, which was seen as a precondition for
ensuring the provision of good quality human rights training in the future.
Information obtained during study tours (lectures, literature, manuals)
was foreseen to inspire structure and content of the future training
manuals and to provide faculty staff with practical examples of training
techniques. The suggestion who would contribute as co-author to themanuals was also based on BHR’s observation of the performance andinteraction of study tour participants.
The workshop scheme was agreed among implementation partners
during a Round Table, which served to clarify the purpose of the training257

for faculty members: workshops were designed (1) to familiarize future
human rights trainers with the speciic topics covered by the future
training manuals and (2) to introduce trainees to the application of new,interactive training methods and tools. During a typical workshop’s irst
day the manual’s co-authors presented the subjects: history/backgroundof human rights; human rights protection as function and duty of thepolice; respecting human rights during criminal investigation. For thesecond day, trainees were asked (i) to prepare in groups for presenting
themselves one of the other topics covered by the training manual and (ii)to do so by choosing from a range of interactive presentation techniques
and tools previously demonstrated and made available by trainers.
(ii) EffectivenessThe project’s inal narrative report describes a generally successfulproject, making the modest claim that the project’s objective was met
to 70%. As a matter of fact, the project completed all of its scheduledactivities within the extended project implementation period. However,at the time of the evaluation visit, courses based on the project’s training
manual outputs were still not offered by higher training institutions for
future Kazakh police oficers. Five months after the project closing date,
the project’s ambition to contribute towards improved human rights
protection remains partly unachieved.
Apart from a two-month extension further changes occurred, though
without affecting the project’s implementation progress:• a transfer of the project coordinator role was executed smoothly
on the basis of internal arrangements (among BHR staff, due tomaternity leave);• faculty members of two MIA academies in Aktobe and Kostanay(previously under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice)were added to the project’s target group (cf. district map above).

258

Human Rights Training Manual(Tutor’s Methodology Edition)

1. Consultations
Introductory discussions held at the outset of the project to develop a
strategic action plan were concluded successfully, with the partnershipagreeing (1) to work towards mandatory introduction of human rights
education by all academies training future police oficers by September
2012 and (2) to draft jointly human rights training materials including
contributions by experts from the Ministry of the Interior and the Human
Rights Commission.
However, the MIA’s input to the training manuals took more time than
anticipated. As there was a serious risk that the workshops (planned totrain future trainers on the content and use of the manuals) could not
be held, BHR took initiative and organized an additional “roundtable”
to clarify the purpose of the workshops and to once more commit thepartnership to timely delivery of their contributions.

259

2. Curriculum Development
Under the coordination and editorial leadership of BHR two versions of
the training manual were completed. While the student version of themanual introduces police practice to the human rights perspective, theversion for faculty staff includes additional recommendations on theapplication of interactive teaching methods.
Despite the above-mentioned signiicant delays at input level the projectwith these manuals ensured that relevant information will be readily
available, once the human rights subject will be included into thecountry’s police academy curriculum. Given the range of the below listed
topics, evaluators assume that the new material will effectively generate
an informed human rights perspective among future police oficers:• Introduction to history and background of human rights;• Police interaction with the civil society;• Police investigation, with particular respect to human rights;• Detention - actions by the police and process;• Use of ire arms and physical force by police oficers;• Police interaction with vulnerable / marginalized people;• Emergency situations - actions by the police and process.
All activities that were foreseen to follow the editorial work on the
manuals’ content were carried out according to plan, but - as a consequenceof the late completion of the writing process - their implementation was
delayed. The manuals were translated into Kazakh language, and thenumbers of copies produced exceeded by far the 1,000 copies (100 for
academic personnel, 900 for students) initially planned in the project
document: altogether, 2,600 copies were printed (650 Russian and 650
Kazakh copies of the tutor and student versions each). BHR together
with contributing experts announced the publication and presented themanuals during a press conference, held in Astana in April 2012 on theoccasion of a workshop.

260

3. Training of Trainers
As planned, two study tours to Tajikistan and Denmark involved 10participants each. Following UNDEF’s approval, workshops wereorganized for 60 participants in the course of the project’s two-monthno-cost extension period.
Participants told evaluators they were impressed by the strong commitment
to human rights protection as an integral element of the education for
Tajikistan’s future police oficers, saying that their meetings with police
oficers, prosecutors, judges, and human rights advocates provided
them with interesting examples from a country which had previously
beneitted from a similar project (supported by the Danish Institutefor Human Rights). This and other feedback made the project popular,
and competition to participate in the second study tour (to Denmark)reportedly became tough.

Group work, study visit to Denmark(June 2011)

With the objective of the study tours in mind, BHR successfully insisted
vis-à-vis its implementation partners to involve the same group ofparticipants in the second visit, which included a series of human rights
261

seminars at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, and meetings at a
Copenhagen police station, a pre-trial detention facility and the Danish
National Police Academy. In interviews evaluators conirmed thatthe study tours effectively provided the participating trainees with theinspiration needed to develop the structure and contents of the training
manuals. Participants once more were impressed with the extent to which
the human rights discipline had evolved, and expressed their appreciation
for the transparent way in which tutors discussed Danish human rights
issues and provided them with useful experience.
Two-day workshops were held as planned in three locations to train
future human rights tutors on methodology and content of the new
manuals. Like the participants of the study tours, the workshops’ trainees
were selected by BHR’s implementing partners. When the Financial
Police Academy in Astana nominated ive instead of the expected
twenty trainees, BHR invited and obtained conirmation of ive trainees
from the newly introduced beneiciary institution in Aktobe. While tenparticipants from the MIA Academy in Kostanay were included similarlyin the Almaty-based workshop, the envisaged participation of 20 trainees
could be secured from the MIA Academy in Karaganda, bringing thetotal number of trained trainers to 50 (planned: 60).

Workshop participants in Almaty- May 2012

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While human rights information was absorbed with great interest,
interactive training methods proved a novelty more dificult to promote.
When tasked to present some of the new material themselves, it emerged
quickly that workshop participants had a strong preference for traditional
lecture-style teaching. The grantee accordingly adjusted the task, removing
traditional teaching as an option and providing more information on thevery few techniques (e.g. role-play, assignments for individuals/groups,
discussion) and tools (e.g. lip chart, PowerPoint, video) that are needed
to realize interactive teaching.
(iii) Eficiency17
Activities generating an up-to-date human rights perspective among
potential training manual authors and future trainers (e.g. study tours,
workshops) and the development and publication of appropriate training
materials (involving national expertise, translation and printing)represented by the project’s principal focus. Accordingly, 54.6% of
the budget was reserved for expenditure related to trainings/meetings(36.5%), contractual services (11.7%) and advocacy/outreach (6.4%).
Breaking the amount spent for above activities (USD 85,900)18 over the
total number of 72 direct beneiciaries19 provides a high average cost of
approximately USD 1,193 per beneiciary. Including 900 police oficer
candidates (i.e. the number of students expected to be trained everyyear) as indirect beneiciaries would, however, lower the average cost
per beneiciary to USD 88.40. In other words, implementation partners
must rush to fulill their commitment to introduce human rights training
into the curricula of their higher educational institutions. Otherwise thecourse material risks to become outdated20 and the potential beneit of ahighly eficient project conduct could be lost.
17

Quantitative assessments made in this section are based on the total amount of project expenditure, which
excludes the budget amount reserved for evaluation by UNDEF.
18
Expenditure budgeted for project management (i.e. salaries) is not included in this percentages/amounts.
19This igure includes 22 study tour participants and 50 trained trainers (i.e. national experts / potential
contributors to the manuals and future trainers).
20
During interviews beneiciaries recurrently noted to evaluators the need for annual updates, to ensure thatpace with ongoing revisions in relevant national laws.

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The nominal unit cost of the training manual amounts to USD 3.85
(2,600 copies printed), which is signiicantly lower than the budgeted
USD 10 per copy (1,000 copies planned), thus providing further evidenceof eficient project conduct.
BHR and the partnership incurred no expenses for equipment or programsupport. Given the extent of logistics required to run and coordinate theproject across three locations in a country of the size of Kazakhstan,the expenses allocated for travel (12.7%) and miscellaneous purposes(18.3% covering e.g. ofice rent, sundry and audit) appear reasonable.

(iv) Impact
Weaknesses in the grantee’s approach to data collection limit the evaluators’
analysis of impact to a review of anecdotes. Further to the absence of arepresentative survey for baseline purposes, BHR did also not undertakea systematic survey to study the project’s impact of the study tours or
the workshops on its direct beneiciaries. The grantee’s assessment of
the workshops was limited to the collection of «+/-» feedback fromthe participants. Among the positively rated workshop aspects were:questions answered, new information and material provided, and theopportunity to learn new methodological approaches and to make newfriends. Suggestions for improvement included the use of more advanced264video materials and the availability of more international documents,
audio-visual materials, including PowerPoint presentations, in Kazakh
language.
On the basis of interviews held with 2 implementing partner
representatives, 5 academic staff (3 contributors/trainers and 2 trainees)
and the head of BHR’s educational center evaluators have independently
formed the view that the project generated positive effects. Selected
anecdotes are provided below.21 They are grouped along some of the key
issues identiied in the grantee’s initial contextual analysis (= baseline, cf.
section on relevance) to demonstrate how the project changed the humanrights perspective among faculty staff and to indicate potential impact on
students in the future. As indicated in the project’s inal narrative report,these examples demonstrate that the grantee was successful in providing a
response to the baseline situation. However, implementation partners still
have to live up to their commitment, which is the mandatory provision ofhuman rights courses by all of Kazakhstan’s police academies, to enable
the project to realize ultimate impact on the country’s human rights
situation.
Unavailability of training methodology for teachers and of human rights
manuals for students

Two members of the Human Rights Commission's expert committee conirmed inseparate reviews that the issues covered by the new training manuals were critical toensure that human rights of individual citizens in Kazakhstan will be respected by thepolice. According to their assessments, the manuals will provide students with a better
understanding of the importance of the international standards for the developmentof civil society and rule of law, “[…] the protection of which is inextricably linked
to the professional activities of law enforcement agencies.” Furthermore, a Human
Rights Committee representative mentioned to evaluators that the project's output
inspired him to suggest the addition/development of a practical pocket-size reference
book for citizens, in order to facilitate awareness raising about individual humanrights also among members of the civil society.

21

In line with current development practice, an effort was made to identify recent anecdotes or to obtain,
where possible, details of relevance265For the head of BHR’s educational center, chief editor of the manuals and workshop
trainer promoting the interactive training method, the workshops and study tours
were an “[…] eye opener, which took the staff of the faculties out of their academic
isolation.” It is his view that active involvement drew participants into empowerment
and inspiration, as they felt that they were contributing to the creation of something
new. Convinced that the project generated new values among its trainees, he said
that they left the training owning the idea that dedicated human rights courses mustbe held. He also highlighted the particular signiicance of the irst-ever publicationof training material in Kazakh for the standardization of human rights terminology.
Given the complexity of the Kazakh language, which frequently offers a variety of
meanings for one and the same word, it was important to establish certainty about
correct ways of expressing human rights rules and concerns. Therefore the manuals
have now also established a standard reference, enabling the future comparison withand translation from Russian and other foreign language human rights sources.
Acquisition of knowledge and experience as pre-condition for quality humanrights training

A project participant, co-author of the manuals and trainer in the workshops,
said, “[…] in general, police oficers in Kazakhstan consider human rights to be an
obstacle for performing their duties .” He therefore chose to teach human rights using
interactive and participative methods, putting students in the shoes of those whoserights were usually violated. “It was the project that made me discover and apply
new concepts and methods of teaching, which complement my traditional academic
style.” He used the example of the Milgram experiment during the workshops todemonstrate how easily people obey to an authority igure which instructs them toperform acts that conlict with their personal conscience. The experiment establishedthat human rights standards should guide the work of higher police oficers, thus
helping them to make a distinction between appropriate and inadmissible actions.
The presentation of the Milgram experiment reportedly had a very positive effecton and was welcomed by workshop participants. Given this feedback, the trainer
expects a similar impact on future police oficers who will be trained on the basis of
the manual.

A tutor of the MIA Academy in Almaty trained by the project highly appreciatedthe study visits and the workshop organized by BHR. As far as the workshop isconcerned, he praised the opportunity to experience the methodological approachof interactive teaching, which he said he started to apply after the training, even incourses not directly related to the human rights subject. In addition, he told evaluators

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that his participation in the study trip to Denmark inspired him to make extensive useof anecdotes, examples and literature he was provided with by the project.
“Human Rights” course provision mandatory for police academies
A future human rights trainer, a tutor of the Financial Police Academy in Astana
who previously taught international law, characterized the project as an importantmilestone in her career. After her participation in the human rights workshop she
was given the opportunity to start teaching human rights in the framework of anadvanced training for law-enforcement professionals. From the semester starting in
February 2013, she will also start to run human rights courses as part of the Financial
Academy’s Bachelor’s program. She added that the inclusion of the materials andmanuals she obtained from the project into the Academy’s library was publicly
announced and that the new material already shows heavy signs of wear due tofrequent consultation and research by students in preparation for their exams anddissertations.

The stories gathered demonstrate that the project’s outputs generated
an informed human rights perspective and ownership of innovative
training approaches among faculty staff. Most notably, since the project’s
completion beneiciaries have put additional efforts, applying the newskills and knowledge acquired in the context of their current teachingacross a variety of disciplines and subjects, as and when appropriate.
However, at the time of the evaluation visit, solely the Academy of the
Financial Police in Astana appeared set to fulill the initial commitment
to launch human rights courses for future police oficers under the
Bachelor’s degree program.
(v) Sustainability
Five months after project completion, evaluators came across a number
of issues that risk undermining the sustainability of the project’s results.
The project’s design expected acceptance of the project’s outputs, which
turned out to be a risky assumption in an environment where the violationof human rights by the police is still a practical reality. While the project’s
achievements are not to be disputed, there is a potential risk that theefforts and fruits of the work of the implementing partners will become267

out of date if not exploited soon:
1. The provision of “Human Rights education” is still not mandatory forpolice academies
Interviews conducted at the time of the evaluation visit revealed that
Kazakhstan’s higher educational institutions assigned with the trainingof future police oficers were still not obliged to hold the 45-hour humanrights course, which tutors and training materials had been prepared forby the project. According to the grantee’s inal narrative report, the plan
agreed during the project’s initial consultation phase was to establish
human rights as an obligatory discipline for MIA police academies bySeptember 2012. Among the motivations for a simultaneous launchat all four MIA academies (rather than the conduct of a pilot at anindividual institution) was the need for a critical mass of feedback andrecommendations from new tutors’ experience, in order to guide futurerevisions of the manuals.
BHR’s ambition was to establish human rights as a mandatory discipline,
which would exclude higher educational institutions from the option tooffer the subject as an elected or special discipline only. The rationale
behind this approach was that students are required to successfully passexams for all mandatory disciplines to obtain their degree. The MIA’s
Department for Educational and Methodological Matters submitted its
application for approval of the new, mandatory, discipline to the Ministryof Education upon completion of the manual drafting process.
It now appears that the implementation partnership faces an unexpectedobstacle in the Ministry of Education, which to date has neither approved
nor given its view on the project’s outputs. The Ministry however, whichis the line authority for all aspects of higher education, was included in theinitial consultations and did not object to the time plan. Interview partners
presented evaluators with a variety of reasons for the delay caused by the
Ministry of Education. These ranged from (i) a fundamental, yet not fully
implemented change in the rules governing the procedure for approvaland introduction of new mandatory disciplines, and (ii) the possibility
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that the Ministry’s staff currently prepares human rights manuals andcourse guidelines more aligned with its own vision and preferences; to(iii) the likelihood of a politically motivated standstill with the aim tosimply prevent or delay the introduction of the new discipline.
Notwithstanding the above the Secretary of the Human Rights
Commission under the President of Kazakhstan, on the basis ofindependent reviews (c.f. impact section above) expressed his convictionof the high educational value of the manuals and his appreciation for thework completed under the guidance of BHR. With tutors well prepared
and academy managements well aware of the oncoming introduction of
the new mandatory discipline, he indicated that the Commission was in
the process of addressing both the Ministry of Education and the MIA toinvestigate possible ways to expedite the approval procedure. This being
said, the Commission’s secretary was conident that courses using the
project’s manuals could be expected to launch either by the academic
mid-term or autumn semesters of 2013.
2. Only a fraction of the produced Human Rights Training Manuals were
distributed
Given the above, only a limited number of the new manuals are currently
in use. BHR withheld the textbooks pending the launch of the newhuman rights courses. For the time being, each beneiciary institution
has obtained a limited number of 50 copies. Former project trainers
and trainees conirmed that the manual inspires their current teaching
methods and that they make use of its content as and when appropriate,e.g. in optional human rights courses held at the MIA Academy in
Karaganda. They also reported that other faculty staff was eager to accessand absorb the contents of the new textbooks. However, in the absenceof the Ministry of Education’s approval, none of the 1,600 student copies
has been disseminated yet.
3. Police oficers already on duty do currently not beneit
The existing two-week (72 hours) advanced training for oficers withacademic degree includes human rights training, but currently does not269

consider the project’s output. It is the MIA’s intention to review andconsolidate the advanced training only once the mandatory course has
been approved.
4. The mechanism/modalities for updates of the manuals remain to beconirmed
BHR has started to consider funding options to ensure the training material
can be kept up to date. As the current situation provides no certainty as
to whether the Ministry of Education would provide such funding, thegrantee intends to apply for OSCE funding. The organization alreadyprovides inancial support for BHR’s human rights program addressing
secondary-level special institutions.

(vi) UNDEF Value Added
The fact that the MIA, one of Kazakhstan’s institutions the least open
to public control, collaborated in this project with the leading humanrights NGO in Kazakhstan, is a remarkable achievement, in particular
as the relationship between these organizations used to be tense. Justa few months ahead of the project’s start, the former director of BHR
was sentenced to 4 years of prison, in what was seen as a politicallymotivated, unfair trial. In such a scenario, it appears strongly unlikelythat the cooperation with the MIA would have been possible without thebacking of UNDEF. The government of Kazakhstan assigns importanceto its international reputation, and engagement in projects of the present
kind certainly helps to improve its image vis-à-vis the international
community.
UNDEF inancing has also provided BHR with leverage in its future
efforts for the realization of the project’s ultimate impact. Should thehuman rights course by September 2013 still not have been introduced tothe police academies’ curriculum, BHR intends to pursue notiication to
the UN through the mechanism of the annual review of the human rights
situation in Kazakhstan.
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V. CONCLUSIONS
i. We found that exposure to international experience through a
combination of study visits and workshops was appropriate to facilitate
the generation of an informed and up-to-date human rights perspective,
both among authors of the training manual and the future tutors. Our
indings related to the concept of the training manuals for future tutors
and students show that these were designed to ensure that graduates will
dispose of the consolidated knowledge necessary to execute their duties,
both in accordance with practical needs and international human rights
standards. We therefore conclude that the project’s design was relevant
to provide a direct solution to the absence of good quality, practitioneroriented, Kazakh-language human rights education.
ii. Although we found delays in the process of training materials
preparation, which put the subsequently planned workshops initially at
a serious risk, the grantee managed to complete all scheduled project
activities within the extended project implementation period. This
accomplishment, together with the opportunity provided for exchangeof practical experience in the course of international study visits and therange of topics covered in the workshops and training materials, lead
us to the conclusion that the project’s implementation partnership madean effective, if not essential, contribution towards the inclusion of
the human rights subject into the country’s future police academy
curriculum.
iii. We have already found beneiting faculty staff making efforts to apply
their new skills and knowledge in their current teaching, across a variety
of disciplines and subjects. This notably includes the extensive use of
anecdotes, examples and literature provided by the project and of thesuggested methodological approach of interactive teaching. These signsof improvement and change, as well as the conclusion that the frequentconsultation of the new human rights manuals made available to students
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at the library of the Financial Police Academy in Astana is an exampleof how the project already feeds into research and dissertation work of
future police oficers, demonstrate the potential impact of the project.
iv. These conclusions on impact were drawn from testimonials, which
we have gathered among beneiciaries. Regrettably, neither resultsoriented monitoring documentation demonstrating progress in relation
to the grantee’s contextual analysis, nor data assessing the likely impact
prospects generated by the project was collected by the grantee.
v. In terms of the project’s eficiency, the cumulative expenditure fortrainings/meetings, contractual services and advocacy/outreach results ina high average unit cost of USD 1,193 per beneiciary. As we found the
project struggling to achieve its ultimate impact, which is the mandatory
provision of human rights courses by all of Kazakhstan’s police
academies, the project’s 900 indirect beneiciaries at this point cannot
be taken into consideration. Therefore the potential beneit of eficient
project conduct is at risk. If the project’s outputs came to use in thevery near future, the average cost per beneiciary would decrease to USD
88.40.
vi. Five months after the project closing date courses based on the
project’s outputs were still not offered by higher training institutions
for future Kazakh police oficers. The Ministry of Education to date hasneither approved nor given its view on the project’s outputs, which puts
the sustainability of the project’s outcomes at risk. Given that theline authority for higher education did neither veto the objectives nor
the time plan during the project’s initial consultations, we conclude thatthe grantee and its implementing partners did not foresee and maintainongoing communication and coordination with the Ministry of Education
to secure its timely (and political) approval. As a result, there is no clear
perspective as to when human rights training will become a mandatory
discipline for Kazakhstan’s police academies and by when beneiciaries
can make use of the 2,600 copies of the training manual produced by
BHR.
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VI. RECOMMENDATIONS
To strengthen the outcome and similar projects in the future, evaluators
recommend to UNDEF and project grantees:i. The pertinence of the project’s design and effectiveness is among others
owed to the fact that one of the two study tours targeted Tajikistan, whereparticipants were put in a position to observe the recent progress the Tajik
police made with observing human rights following the completion ofa similar project. In accordance with our indings on relevance andeffectiveness, we therefore recommend to UNDEF to encourage
applicants planning the conduct of study visits to ensure that these will
expose beneiciaries to countries which have recently applied comparable
measures in a similar development context.
ii. As long as the Ministry of Education withholds its approval, the transferof the newly acquired knowledge is at stake, rendering the project’s
intention to contribute to the country’s future police academy curriculum
useless. Based on our observations on effectiveness, we therefore
recommend to the grantee to remind the approving authority that
integration of the present project’s training manuals into the curriculumof higher education institutions was already recommended by the Human
Rights Commission in its “Report on the Human Rights Situation” in
2011, which was approved by the President of the Republic in May 2012
(resolution No 32-42.157).22
iii. Since the large majority of current police academy students lacktimely and unrestricted access to the new human rights training manuals,
there could be also a loss of the potentially eficient project conduct. In
accordance with our indings on eficiency, we therefore recommend
to the grantee to make the approval authority aware that evaluators havenoted the project’s consistency with government policy, as well as the22

Human Rights Commission under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Report on the Human
Rights Situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2011, Recommendation No. 2, p. 81.

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Human Rights Commission Secretary’s expectation that courses using
the project’s manuals are likely to launch either by the academic midterm or autumn semesters of 2013.
iv. The absence of progress monitoring in relation to the grantee’s initial
contextual analysis not only signiicantly reduces the possibility tomeasure the impact of UNDEF-funded operations, it may well be also oneof the reasons why the project is now struggling to achieve its ultimate
impact. Based on our comments on impact, we highlight the usefulnessof continuous, systematic progress monitoring to identify necessary
corrective actions and remaining (or new) needs. We therefore believethat it is essential and recommend to the grantee to conduct interviews
throughout (at key stages/milestones) and after completion of a project,
not only with beneiciaries but also with all stakeholders involved in orconcerned by the project. Covering project achievements systematically(i.e. progress/change compared to outcome of the initial contextual
analysis) will improve BHR’s impact assessment in quantitative andqualitative terms and thus enhance the organization’s strategic objectives.
This may also help the grantee to attract new donors and implementing
partners for an expansion of the original project.
v. Based on the above we recommend to UNDEF to become more
explicit vis-à-vis applicants about the beneits of generating and using
comparative survey data (baseline vs. outcome). We suggest that you
consider that applications including solid survey approaches will begiven preference.
vi. In relation to our conclusion that that the grantee and its implementing
partners did not foresee and maintain ongoing communication andcoordination with the Ministry of Education to secure approval, we
believe that it is of utmost importance for democracy development
projects to include and continuously involve all stakeholders concernedby the introduction of previously unavailable knowledge and skills. Thisapplies in particular to CSO projects requiring cooperation with multiple
central government institutions, as it ensures continuous consultation274

and thus a process more likely to identify practical or administrative
challenges. Based on our observations on sustainability, we therefore
recommend to the grantee and to UNDEF to ensure that future projectapplications include speciic measures promoting cooperation andownership in case the acceptance of project deliverables is of concern
to multiple government institutions, notably through a project design
applying an inclusive partnership approach, to the extent possible,that continuously involves all stakeholders concerned in the project’s
implementation.

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