Fiscal decentralization and rural ecotourism: Assessing the capacity of local budgets to improve life quality in Kazakhstan

Since the beginning of the administrative and territorial reform in Ukraine, the financial decentralization process has been intensified. It aims at optimizing the budgetary resource redistribution in order to make communities financially independent. This significantly increases the financial capacity for self-organization and self-development of a united territorial community, which determines the need to apply valuation methods to increase the territory’s investment attractiveness.
The article outlines the peculiarities of the united territorial communities (UTCs) management under fiscal decentralization, taking into account the need to apply current methods of value-oriented management. At the same time, the use of SWOT analysis as one of the methods of value-oriented management made it possible to evaluate the efficiency and attractiveness of UTCs under decentralization. The financial activity of 665 UTCs was analyzed and the model for managing the united territorial community was created. It is emphasized that the modern understanding of financial support for united territorial communities remains unresolved today, and the expediency to introduce changes in the UTC, which envisage using the subsidiarity principles, is not justified.
The key directions for managing the UTCs are identified. This refers to communities that began their activities and already faced the first challenges: management of available resources, provision of needs and sustainable development of the community, changes in the ratio of their income and expenditure components, increase in the budget income per capita.
It is recommended to focus on tools of value-oriented management in the united territorial communities in order to attract investors and increase the financial capacity of local authorities.

The objective of the research is to examine the impact of brand name and pricing on Kazakhstan Gen Z consumers’ buying behavior, spending patterns, and other buying motives. Adopting a quantitative approach, the study administers a structured questionnaire following a comprehensive analysis of the relevant literature and gleaned responses from 300 Generation Z consumers after checking the reliability and validity of the instrument using Cronbach’s alpha. The selected hypotheses were tested using the Karl Pearson coefficient of correlation, which revealed that brand name significantly impacts Kazakh women, and price greatly influences both genders. The results observed that price has the most significant effect on the buying behavior of female and male Gen Z consumers in Kazakhstan, with 25 and 28 percent, respectively. Brand name and authenticity considerably influence female consumers, with 16 and 15 percent, whereas innovation, technology, and customization, with 20 and 14 percent, influence male consumers. The significant influence of branding and pricing on the buying behavior of Kazakhstan Gen Z customers is displayed, and the findings provide a focal context for developing marketing plans in this first-of-its-kind research article.

Nowadays, the modernization of the education system is the basis of dynamic sustainable economic development and citizens’ well-being. The key agent for the implementation of educational policy and the developer of the legal framework governing the functioning of the educational sphere is the state and its bodies. The Kazakhstani state policy’s main priorities in the field of education are formulated in several strategic documents. Using the review approach, this article examines the current state of public policy and legal regulation in Kazakhstan’s education sector. The article analyzes key documents that define the contours and content of the main directions of public policy and legal regulation. This article attempts to identify, review, and analyze the legal characteristics of the key process and factors existing in the legal field of Kazakhstani education, such as “Bologna factor,” “soviet legacy,” “provision of quality,” etc. The article concludes that the existing legal tools do not fully comply with law enforcement practice. The interpretations of some legal acts are somewhat different, which causes difficulties for actors providing educational services. Based on the result of the analysis, the article provides the main recommendations for improving legislation in education.

Acknowledgment
This article was written under grant from Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science No. АР05135081 “Student with disabilities and distance education learning environment: socio-practical and legal dimensions” coordinated by Prof. Dr Zulfiya Movkebayeva (Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University).