Afghanistan Technical Assistance Program

Current phase: 2008-2011
Project budget: $12.2 million

The Afghanistan Technical Assistance Program (ATAP) is a technical assistance deployment mechanism that enables CIDA to respond promptly and effectively to opportunities and demands from the Government of Afghanistan. This program has been implemented by the Canadian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights, a non-governmental organization specializing in expert deployments through its roster of more than 10,000 (mostly Canadian) experts. ATAP is the primary mechanism to provide experts for the Governance Support Office (GSO). The goal of the GSO is to build the institutional capacity of the Government of Afghanistan to plan, implement, and evaluate its activities in central Afghanistan and in the province of Kandahar. Priorities have been established based on Canada’s new strategic policy priorities. As such, ATAP will build on (but not replace) the Department of National Defence’s Strategic Advisory Team.