Youth Forum 2025 in Almaty: UNICEF and Documentolog Connect Thousands of Young Kazakhstanis Through a New Digital Portal

Almaty, 27 November 2025: The national UNICEF Youth Forum 2025, one of the largest youth events of the year, took place in Almaty, bringing together more than 200 participants, including young leaders, Akimat representatives, businesses, international organizations, and social entrepreneurs. The forum’s key outcome was a signed strategic digital memorandum between UNICEF and Documentolog, now called the ‘Digital Partner for UNICEF’. Documentolog has already started developing a new national volunteer portal designed to unite thousands of young people across the country and elevate the ‘UNICEF Zhastary’ movement to a new technological level.

The forum opened with an exhibition of social initiatives created by young volunteers. Thirteen teams presented projects in areas such as child rights protection, inclusion, mental health, environmental education, violence prevention, and community development. The top six teams pitched their ideas on stage before a jury that included representatives from UNICEF, the Akimat, and the business community. Three projects will receive mentoring support for further development.

UNICEF Representative in Kazakhstan, Dr. Rashed Mustafa Sarwar, emphasized that Kazakhstan is becoming a regional hub for youth initiatives and the digital transformation of social projects. “This forum is more than just an event. It is a movement to ensure that young people have the knowledge, the voice, and the power to drive change in their communities and beyond. When youth lead, societies thrive,” he noted.

According to UNICEF, an additional 9,500 young people joined the organization’s volunteer programmes in Kazakhstan in 2025 alone, while the youth hub network expanded to six cities: Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, Aktau, Semey, and Kokshetau.

The forum concluded with the official signing of the digital partnership memorandum with Documentolog, one of Kazakhstan’s leading technology developers. On a pro bono basis, Documentolog will develop a portal for volunteer learning and development for UNICEF in Kazakhstan.

Documentolog CEO Baizhan Kanafin spoke at the plenary session, stating that the company views its cooperation with UNICEF as a strategic step aimed at providing long-term support for youth initiatives, developing digital infrastructure, and expanding young people’s access to modern tools for social innovation. The new volunteer portal will integrate training, communication, application submissions, automated participation tracking, and digital volunteer profiles—transforming youth-led initiatives into scalable solutions.

The forum served as a platform for dialogue between the government, private businesses, and the youth movement. Representatives of the Almaty Akimat reaffirmed their commitment to continued collaboration on advancing the city’s youth policy, expanding volunteering opportunities, preventing bullying, strengthening mental health services, and creating a safe digital environment for children and adolescents.