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LIVING THROUGH CRISES
free schooling, and subsidized health care. Most of these support schemes have existed for decades, and their outreach and effectiveness are not the subject of this research. The study focuses on the analysis of the activities of the first phase of the Road Map program’s “Employment and Retraining Strategy” (employment strategy), which was designed as a temporary intervention to mitigate the impact of the global economic crisis.2 The second and third sections elaborate on the study setting and its findings regarding crisis impacts on vulnerable people. We then continue in the fourth section to analyze people’s coping strategies, and in the fifth section to elaborate on the government’s short-term crisis response measures under the employment strategy. The conclusion offers some views on policy. Summarizing the main findings, participants of the two assessment rounds in Kazakhstan reported that the impacts of the crisis resulted in significant hardships in the form of unemployment, food insecurity, and a decrease of social and psychological well-being. The crisis was regarded as having intensified existing problems that were traced to labor market impacts, including job loss, reduction in working hours, and price shocks, as the costs of food, education, and communal services increased significantly. Respondents reported a multitude of strategies for coping with the crisis: eating less or cheaper food, borrowing money, or growing food to eat and sell. The most common strategy was to cut consumption and seek help through social networks. Kazakhstan’s government attempted to mitigate adverse crisis impacts by starting the Road Map program as a temporary measure to support especially those who lost their jobs due to the crisis and had no further means to support themselves. Through the activities of the Road Map program’s employment strategy, many unemployed people received short-term employment and training-based support resulting in temporary relief. The government’s response addressed well the population’s most important concerns during the financial crisis. Nevertheless, research respondents mentioned some shortcomings of the employment strategy, which included difficulties in accessing the activities, corruption, lack of transparency in program implementation, and the insufficient outreach and scale of benefits. It is worth noting that both the coverage and the generosity of benefits were much higher in Kazakhstan than in other country case studies presented in this book. Criticism of the government support programs could be partially explained by people’s higher expectations of the government. Kazakhstan’s population still has memories of free public services, job security, long-term employment guaranteed by the