REFRESCH’s introduction to Kazakhstan began with an invitation from Ambassador Kairat Umarov to address a number of challenges in Gabon in the areas of food security, distributed energy, and employment opportunities. The embassy connected REFRESCH to administrators and Nazarbayev University in Astana as their main contacts. Collaborations in different areas of the country have been explored.
REFRESCH main effort relating to Kazakhstan this year will be (i) a collaborative effort with Nazarbayev University to examine persistent organic pollutants and (ii) to improve upon the initial design of a fruit dryer requested by the people in Chilik. In addition, future collaborations between several institutions – the UM, Michigan State University, Nazarbayev University, and Kazakh National University – are being pursued.