Case studies

The resettlement of Berezovka and Bestau, which used to be located on the border of the new Sanitary Protection Zone of the Karachaganak field, took place in the period from 2015 to 2017 in several stages. In total, over 460 families were relocated to Aksai and the adjacent newly developed Araltal microdistrict. One of the examples of settling in a new place and restoring the usual way of life is presented below.

Imanmalik Dushekenov is a retired resident, who moved with his elder son and his family from Berezovka Village to Aksai in Phase 1 at the end of 2015.

Imanmalik’s daughter Gulsin Nazarova worked as a schoolteacher of Qazaq language and literature at Berezovka School. In 2017, she was resettled to a new house in Araltal. Now she works at Araltal School as a teacher of Qazaq language and literature.

In accordance with Entitlement Matrix, the households where elderly resided together with grown up and married children were entitled to separate housing after resettlement. Therefore, Imanmalik’s married son and married daughter got two separate houses in Araltal.

Imanmalik Dushekenov’s son Sapargali has three children. The eldest son is already working, the youngest son is a 6-grade pupil of the Araltal school, his daughter Aizhan is a medical college graduate. She did her college under the KPO’s Scholarship Programme. After the graduation, KPO supported Aizhan with getting a job in local Clinic. Now Aizhan is a third-year student at a Medical University in Russia.

Aizhan says that KPO had given her a ticket to life through its Scholarship Programme. «My scholarship sponsored by KPO was bigger than that of other students’».

When meeting with KPO Community Relations team Imanmalik Dushekenov thanked KPO for the assistance provided to his family: education for his granddaughter and a good housing in Araltal.

The issues of environmental protection and ecosystems of the territories adjacent to the Karachaganak field are always in the focus of KPO’s attention. In its production activities, the Company adheres to the highest standards aimed at minimizing the impact on the environment.

As part of the post-resettlement monitoring, KPO decided to green the courtyards of the houses built in Aksai.

In October 2020, KPO Community Relations team visited a number of farms in West Qazaqstan Oblast to learn how to grow various types of trees, both leafy and fruit trees and how to select the seedlings.

On 20 October 2020, with support of Aksai Mayor’s Office KPO staff delivered 150 saplings of mountain ash, Tatar maple and poplar for planting in the backyard of Apartment Blocks #24 and #25 in microregion 10 in Aksai. The saplings were handed over to the head of the Condominium.
The Condominium went to spread the tree planting also in the backyard of the apartment block No. 4/6 on Druzhby Narodov Street. All mentioned apartment blocks had been built for the households resettled in phases 1 and 2.

The joint efforts of the KPO Community Relations team, Aksai Mayor and the Cooperative of Apartment Owners have paid off. The ex-villagers highly appreciated the initiative for landscaping their yards. Taking care of the planted trees is the contribution of each resident to the environmental protection and preservation of the ecosystem in the area.

As a part of the monitoring of the resettled community of Berezovka, the local residents requested the Сompany to help move the statue of the World War II (WWII) Soldier from Berezovka village to Aksai town of Burlin District.

To keep historical memory of the former Berezovka village residents and their future generations

KPO allocated funds for full restoration of the statue and its move to the new location. The works on restoration of the statue and its pedestal with the carved names of 70 soldiers — participants of WWII, the residents of Berezovka Village (Burlin District of West Qazaqstan Oblast) were performed by Dmitriy Volkogonov from Uralsk, who is the Honoured Architect/Designer, a Member of International Designers’ Association.

The new location for the statue was chosen by an initiative group consisting of the former residents of Berezovka and the representatives from local authorities and KPO. They decided to place the statue near the school in Araltal, where children from the former Berezovka study. A new public park will be developed there in the coming few years. The renovated statue of the WW II Soldier was relocated ahead of the 75^th anniversary of Victory Day in the WWII, celebrated on 9^th May 2020. This will hopefully be a meeting place for the former residents of Berezovka village.

Local authorities representatives, residents and mass media participated in the opening ceremony on 11^th September 2019. Zulfiya Muzafarova, Community and Local Authority Relations Manager noted in her opening speech: «As a socially responsible business, KPO supports the state programme ‘Spiritual renewal’ aimed at preservation of the people’s cultural and historical heritage».

In context of the monitoring of socially vulnerable community members relocated from the former villages of Berezovka and Bestau, a KPO Community Liaison Specialist interacts with the residents, meeting with them individually and answering their phone calls and letters. During one of the trips to Araltal, the Community Liaison Specialist paid attention to the snow-covered path leading to the gate of an elderly woman living alone.

Monitoring of vulnerable and low-income families is aimed at timely identification of problems that arise in the process of their adaptation to new conditions and solve them in cooperation with the competent local authorities in order to minimize the negative impact of resettlement.

In order to help the lonely woman remove the snow, KPO Specialist sent a photo of a snow-covered path to the Department of Employment and Social Programmes of the Burlin District that forwarded an application to volunteers of a local association. The boys responded immediately, and the next day the area was cleared off the snow. The help of volunteers from the Gold Volunteer Organization did not remain unnoticed. KPO invited them to its quarterly HSE Awards ceremony. At the ceremony, the volunteers were awarded with certificates and gifts.

Now the pensioner knows whom to call when she needs help. The youth organization of volunteers ‘Gold’ included the woman’s name into the list of persons who need assistance. In addition, both young people received encouragement from management, which is also an incentive for further work and a best example for other volunteers.

To strengthen good-neighbor relations with local communities, KPO informs them of its activities in the area of environmental protection. In 2021, our target was to involve in the communication process some secondary school students from rural districts adjacent to the Karachaganak Field.

In November 2021, KPO employees carried out a number of extra-curricular classes on environmental topics for schoolchildren from the villages of Uspenovka, Zhanatalap, Priuralnoe and Zharsuat.

The topics were selected with the aim of raising awareness of the youth about care to natural resources, «green thinking» concept, conscious consumption and eco-friendly behavior.

The classes were held in the form of a game with discussion of the issues related to global climate change, depletion of natural resources, and reduction of the environmental footprint made by people on Earth. The concept of waste avoidance implies for conscious consumption, refusal to use disposable plastic items. As an example of refusal from single-use plastic bags, all participants were given with fabric bags to carry their school shoes.

Development of environmental consciousness and behavior are to be embedded into mindsets of people at early age. Through such initiatives of introducing the new environmental value system for the youth, KPO contributes to social progress.

For several years, the local authorities of Burlin district have been raising the issue of the lack of qualified specialists in rural schools and hospitals. Considering this problem and in accordance with the national programme ‘With Diploma to the Village’, starting from 2010 KPO has been implementing a Scholarship Programme for school graduates from three rural districts adjacent to the Karachaganak Field — Uspenovskiy, Zharsuat and Priuralnyi.

The Programme is aimed at providing financial support to school graduates from socially vulnerable families living in rural areas in obtaining secondary specialized and higher education in the West Qazaqstani educational institutions, thus supporting the Burlin district getting qualified personnel in the field of education and healthcare.

The Scholarship Programme was approved and supported by local authorities and Burlin Department of Education. It is implemented under the terms of a 4 — partite Agreement between a student, the Department of Education, the educational institution and KPO.

One of the participants of this programme is Aidanas Iskaliyeva from Uspenovka village. Aidanas was enrolled into the programme in 2013. After completing ninth grade, Aidanas entered the Faculty of preschool education and training at the Uralsk Humanitarian and Technical College.

Under the terms of the Scholarship Programme, KPO pays tuition and monthly scholarship fees that covers food, travel and accommodation expenses of students.

Having successfully graduated from college in 2017, that same year Aidanas got a job as an elementary school teacher in her village school in Uspenovka, where she has worked until 2019. Currently, Aidanas works as a teacher and a methodologist in the Uspenovskiy kindergarten. She comments on her participation in the Scholarship Programme as follows: "I love children since my childhood and have dreamed of becoming an elementary school teacher. KPO gave me a unique opportunity to study and learn a profession I fancy. Working as a preschool teacher inspires me as it allows me to contribute to shaping the children’s perspective and to preparing them for such an important stage as schooling. I am happy that I started my career in my school and I plan to continue living and working for the benefit of my village’.

In 2021, Aidanas took a second place in the West Qazaqstan regional competition for preschool teachers.

Currently there is an outflow of rural youth to the cities in search of jobs, the youth are looking for earnings in oil & gas industry. KPO Scholarship Programme provides opportunities for the young community members to get education and return to their village, where educated specialists are so highly demanded.