Kazakhstan pays special attention to the development of its human resources potential, and such reforms require properly designed and comprehensive approaches. Realising the need for professional development the country’s Ministry of Justice spearheads the idea of continuous improvement among its staff. For example, during 2014-2016 26 employees of the Center of Forensic Expertise had a chance to undertake year-long custom training at the London School of Economics and Political Science funded by the Bolashak program.

As part of further professional development for these forensic experts and under the umbrella of the Strengthening Forensic Expertise project by the Ministry of Justice and the World Bank, a training seminar titled ‘Development of team values for change agents’ was organised by KAZGUU University.

The main objective of this seminar was enhancement of the managerial potential. Representatives from the Ministry of Justice believe that such training sessions not only allow its staff to grow personally but also provide opportunities to share experiences with colleagues. According to Askar Umbetaliyev, ‘…this training programme gathered together and united managerial staff and expert professionals who are our potential as in the future we expect them to apply their experience at regional offices of the Center of Forensic Expertise…’.   

The participants enjoyed specially developed interactive exercises. The seminar was conducted in two parts: forming a picture of the future, an ideal system of management; and emotional intelligence for further development. The seminar programme was designed and delivered by Gulmira Mukhanova and Aidar Abrayev, academics from KAZGUU’s business school.

Forensic experts from all parts of the country were able to exchange ideas in an informal and engaging atmosphere, discuss current problems, analyse situations they face in their everyday professional life, as well as offer insights and assessments to each other. The participants noted that they found something very relevant and new, and had a chance to meet colleagues and share opinions. It was hoped that this seminar would continue and become a tradition.

At the end of the seminar Yury Bikbaev, Project Leader, emphasized that ‘development of forensic expertise requires continuous professional growth of its experts, and orientation on constant and uninterrupted executive education is one of tools to ensure investment into the country’s prosperity. We are very pleased that our project has an opportunity to support these reforms and help develop forensic experts for future managerial roles. We hope to have more of such opportunities and do more in this area.’