The final of the international educational project "Beginit: Leadership for Social Justice", aimed at developing social leadership among high school students from the regions of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, took place in Almaty. The initiative is being implemented by the global InDrive platform in partnership with Astana Hub and the IQanat Educational Foundation.

This year, the winners were 6 high school students from 4 regions of Kazakhstan, as well as two schoolchildren from Kyrgyzstan.  

This season, the project lasted from September 2024 and ended in June 2025. A total of 2,222 applications were submitted, of which 2007 came from schoolchildren from 10 regions of Kazakhstan, and 215 from the Chui region of Kyrgyzstan, where the project was launched for the first time. 

At the first stage, the Beginit team conducted workshops on social leadership in 12 regions. As a result of these meetings, 680 schoolchildren received access to the Leadership for Social Justice online course, which includes the development of critical thinking, public speaking, teamwork and project management. The course was successfully completed by 242 participants, of whom 70 were invited to the 5-day semi-final at the Almaty mountain resort. There they underwent intensive offline leadership development trainings. According to the results, the jury selected 57 participants who made it to the finals.

The culmination of the project was the implementation of the "Safe Way to School" project in partnership with Urban Forum Kazakhstan. The finalists conducted research in their regions, identified problematic sections of the road infrastructure, developed Vision Zero proposals for their improvement, and established interaction with local akimats, precinct officers, deputies, and the media. Thanks to this, the participants not only gained unique practical experience, but also made a real contribution to improving security in their communities. 

"We have fully examined the area given to us. We found problems there like pits that schoolchildren can fall into, poor lighting. I met with the deputies and the precinct officer and focused on one dangerous area, and you can imagine that a pedestrian was installed in the 5th week of the project," Amangeldi Omar, a finalist and 2nd place winner in the project from Zhambyl region, shares his experience of participating in the project. 

In 2024, the project participants have already improved the conditions of movement for almost 60 thousand people in 6 regions of Kazakhstan. For example, the project of Balausy Satymbek, a participant in the Balausy Satymbek program, to create a safe stopping point was successfully implemented at the end of 2024 in the village of Zhasorken in the Zhambyl region. 

"So the second season of Beginit has come to an end. In ten regions of Kazakhstan and the Chui region of Kyrgyzstan, young social leaders actively worked with local communities and looked for ways to make safe roads from school home for schoolchildren. During the year, the participants gained knowledge, learned how to implement social projects, thought through further educational paths, and saw that there are many opportunities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to realize their talents. Some of the finalists will become students at inVision U University in the near future. We are proud of our members! We wish them to remain passionate and enthusiastic in their studies and social leadership. Stay with the Beginit community of social leaders," says Arsen Tomsky, founder and CEO of InDrive.

The winners of the Beginit 2025 finals:

1st place — an educational trip abroad in the amount of $ 4,000:

• Myrzabek Mariam (Aktobe region)
• Bekishev Ildar (Kostanay region)

2nd place – certificates for the purchase of computers in the amount of 1,500 US dollars:

• Amangeldi Omar (Zhambyl region)
• Malysheva Taisiya (Chui region, Kyrgyzstan)

3rd place — certificates worth $ 1,000:

• Marlis Mirei (Chui region, Kyrgyzstan)
• Rutskaya Alexandra (Mangystau region)

In addition, 24 participants received an invitation to the Foundation Year at the innovative leadership university inVision U by InDrive. The invitation includes free accommodation in Almaty, a scholarship, access to educational programs and mentoring.  Anyone can apply for admission to inVision U University by filling out a questionnaire on the website. https://www.invisionu.education/kz/apply .

"The second season of the Beginit project has convincingly shown us that modern teenagers are caring, thinking, creative people, and most importantly, they are sensitive to the problems of local communities, and thanks to their youth, optimism, and the competencies they acquired in the project, developed solutions to local problems resonate and become the priorities of regional and local akimats. Our goal is to bring together children from different regions, give them tools and create conditions for creative work for the benefit of positive changes. We are confident that the experience gained at Beginit will certainly be useful to them in their academic and future professional activities," said Elena Tropinova, head of the Beginit project from InDrive. 

The project has received support from government and public organizations. In Kazakhstan, the partners were Astana Hub and the IQanat Foundation, in Kyrgyzstan - the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy, as well as Bilimkana schools.

About the project

Beginit is an annual educational program for high school students from the regions of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, aimed at developing social leadership. Participants study leadership theory through the Leadership for Social Justice course, develop critical thinking, public speaking and teamwork skills, and most importantly, implement their own projects, solving real problems in their communities. Drop it on www.beginit.indrive.com

InDrive is a global platform for mobility and urban services, whose mission is to fight social injustice. Guided by its mission, the company aims to have a positive impact on the lives of more than a billion people by 2030. She achieves this goal both through her core activities supporting local communities through a fair pricing model, and through the work of her non-profit organization inVision. inVision's community strengthening programs help develop education, sports, arts and science, gender equality, and other important initiatives.  

InDrive operates in more than 888 cities in 48 countries. The InDrive application was downloaded about 300 million times by the time the book was translated and became the second most popular mobile application for calling transport in 2024. In addition to taxi hailing services, InDrive provides a wide range of urban services, including intercity transportation, cargo delivery, courier delivery, financial services and e-grocery. For more information, visit www.inDrive.com