Evaluating the BOTA Foundation's social sector programmes in Kazakhstan

We evaluated the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme run by an NGO, the BOTA Foundation, in Kazakhstan. This major $65 million programme provided short-term cash handouts between 2009 and 2014 to poor households containing children of pre-school age, children with disabilities, pregnant and lactating women and teenage school-leavers.

We led the evaluation both of the programme's impact and also of BOTA's operations and targeting performance. We carried out a randomised control trial with a baseline survey in 2011 and a follow-up survey of 2,300 households in 2012. The three-volume baseline survey report, the single-volume follow-up survey report and the findings from two rounds of qualitative research are available below. Evaluation of a small grants scheme and student scholarship programme OPM also conducted a qualitative evaluation of the BOTA Foundation's two other programmes, the Social Services Programme that issues grants to NGOs working on social sector issues, and the Tuition Assistance Programme that provides means-tested scholarships for higher education.

These evaluations focused on operational aspects such as BOTA's awareness-raising activities, the application process, payment mechanisms, support to beneficiaries and reporting requirements. The reports are available to download below. Costing study In 2012 OPM produced a cost-efficiency analysis of BOTA's expenditure from its foundation in 2008 up to June 2011. It identifies how much money has been spent, on what items, for what purpose and in which location. It looks in particular at the distribution of spending between administrative costs and transfers to beneficiaries, i.e. the cost–transfer ratio.