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For over a decade, CANADEM assisted the Government of Afghanistan to deliver better services to its citizens.
CANADEM directly supported Afghan-led priorities of good governance, transparency, accountability and enhanced service delivery championed by the Kabul Process.
From vision to strategy, policy to planning, budgets to implementation, CANADEM 's experts sparked real change in governance process and people. Flexibility to circumstance and a real drive to align ourselves with national and local priorities defined our approach.
CANADEM has been consistently developing its modality and reputation for placing precisely qualified people in the right place to get the right result.
We have the industry’s largest cutting edge roster of professionals – now numbering over 20,000 vetted Canadian and international experts. This merely complements our deep roots within Afghanistan and our preference to recruit the right person, as locally as possible.
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In practise this means that when possible, we recruit locally or tap into the Afghan Diaspora, where necessary we deploy the best from our international network.
- An Islamic scholar and economist helped the Ministry of Haj reduce corruption and promote efficiency.
- An Afghan specialist worked with the Ministry of Higher Education to simplify and shorten the academic accreditation process.
- An international lawyer promoted the rule of law through constitutional reform at the Ministry of Justice.
- A Canadian planner with 30 years experience worked with extremely receptive counterparts to streamline business licensing.
- A senior international civilian team supported Afghan police reforms.
- An Afghan/Canadian pharmacist & chemist worked with seven ministries to increase patient safety by reducing counterfeit drugs through better regulation.
- Background
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CANADEM's Governance Support Office (GSO) brought together highly qualified Canadian and International technical experts to build the capacity of national institutions within the Afghan Government. The GSO provided expert technical support and advice to Afghan Ministries in key areas such as policing services, human rights law, election operations, vocational programming, education, engineering, financial management and administration -- as outlined in the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, and which are part of the Government of Canada's priorities.
Technical Advisor to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), Jo Bishop (second-left) seen leading a workshop with her AIHRC colleagues. - Governance Office Core functions
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Rapid Recruitment and Deployment of Senior Governance Advisors
Upon request from the Government of Afghanistan, and in collaboration with the Government of Canada, CANADEM recruited, screened and deployed senior governance experts to build capacity in the Afghan Government.
This mirrors CANADEM's role as Canada's Civilian Reserve of over 17,000 experts specialized in rapid recruitment and deployment.
Supporting the Experts in Field
CANADEM's Governance Support Office provided operational support for the governance experts embedded in the Afghan government, such as accommodation, transport and security, as well as the monitoring and disemination of their progress and impact.
- Governance Experts
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The Governance Office consisted of:
- 9-12 governance experts (Technical Advisors), working within different Afghan ministries. Many were deployed for one to two years; others were short term. The number of experts reflected Afghan government needs and Canadian government funding capacity;
- A management team, consisting of two Canadians (GSO Director and Deputy Director Development), an international security team leader, and Afghan support staff including interpreters, compound staff, drivers and security.
All were housed in the Canuck House in Kabul with office space and accommodation.
Expert Placements
GSO technical advisors provided capacity-building assistance in the following Ministries and Agencies:
- MoI Ministry of the Interior;
- MoJ Ministry of Justice;
- MoE Ministry of Education;
- MEW Ministry of Energy and Water;
- IEC Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan;
- IEC Independent Directorate for Local Governance;
- MoF Ministry of Finance;
- MoPH Ministry of Public Health;
- MRRD Ministry of Regional and Rural Development;
- AIHRC Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission;
- Other placements are being considered.
GSO Advisor to the MoE provided policy advice, including how to providewomen and girls better access to education.
Canadians that were deployed with the GSO included Drew Gilmore (Stittsville), Mirwais Nahzat (Toronto), Ian Grocholski (Versailles), Elizabeth Dvorak-Little (Arlington), Seddiq Weera (Burlington), David Evertsen (Florence), and Pamela Thompson (Winfield). - Principles of Technical Assistance in Afghanistan
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These experts have extensive governance capacity-building experience. Their work is guided by two fundamental principles:
Respond to Afghan Needs
The principal beneficiary for technical assistance was the Government of Afghanistan. Afghans working within the Ministries were the direct recipients of advisory services and technical assistance. The Afghan government identified areas and ministries in which it would benefit from technical assistance, and elaborated the Terms of References in collaboration with the GSO. Technical assistance services were hence demand-driven and fully-supported by the Afghan Ministries involved.
Build Afghan Self-sufficient Capacity
The primary purpose of technical assistance is to provide a strategic service integral to capacity development and to upgrade the public service. As such, technical assistance builds on existing Afghan knowledge and ideas, utilizes personnel and resources already in place, and makes use of the local experts and country systems to contribute to long-term learning and capacity-building.