The Afghanistan Technical Assistance Program (ATAP) enables the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to respond promptly and effectively to the technical assistance needs of the Government of Afghanistan. CANADEM, a non-governmental organization, which specializes in expert deployments through a roster of more than 10,000 mostly Canadian professionals, implemented this program.

ATAP is the primary mechanism that provides experts for the Governance Support Office (GSO). The goal of the GSO is to build the full range of qualities necessary for the Government of Afghanistan to function successfully so it can plan, implement, and evaluate its activities in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) Chair Dr. Sima Samar addresses participants in a consultation in Kabul, supported by AIHRC Technical Assistant Jo-Anne Bishop.

© Bishop/CANADEM

Fouz Abdel Hadi, Technical Assistant to the Ministry of Justice, and GSO IT specialist Hugo Ortega assist Ministry of Justice employees who are working with the newly-established internal legislative database.

© Abdel Hadi/CANADEM

Anne Longston, Technical Assistant to the Ministry of Education, with a group of Afghan girls and boys. Ms. Longston provided policy advice to the Ministry of Education, which included how to provide women and girls with better access to education.

© Longston/CANADEM

Since this project’s inception, a total of 13 Technical Assistants have been deployed to Afghanistan through the CGSO. In addition to the Technical Assistants, CANADEM has deployed a Director and Deputy Director to Kabul.

ATAP has achieved the following significant results to date:

• The Ministry of Finance’s Technical Assistant collaborated on an important initiative involving the clustering of Afghan ministries in preparation for the London Conference. He worked on the Government of Afghanistan's budget and was also instrumental in helping to develop their new Civilian Technical Assistance Plan.
• The Ministry of Interior’s Technical Assistant worked to create a gender-mainstreaming unit, a sexual harassment policy and a recruitment strategy for women within the Ministry, as well as creating family response units located at some police stations that female police officers staff.
• A Technical Assistant for the Ministry of Education helped to create the Education Development Board, which was launched in December 2008. Canada currently co-chairs the Board.

• CANADEM