Publications
Summary of publication
This document provides an independent performance review of the Afghan Government's Civil Technical Assistance Program (CTAP).
CTAP is a national capacity development program designed to strengthen staff capacity in key ministries and ultimately improve services provided to the public. CTAP places Afghan expatriate and/or international Technical Advisors (TAs) into ministries to support capacity development initiatives formulated by the ministries themselves It is currently supported by US Agency for International Development (USAID), UK Department for International Development (DFID), Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), German Foreign Services Office and Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA).
In October 2012, USAID commissioned this independent evaluation to inform decisions regarding future CTAP funding and program development. This document provides an assessment of the program's progress in building the capacity of GIRoA's client institutions by examining issues of transparency, effectiveness, sustainability, and gender. The evaluation approach included a multi-level mixed methods non-experimental research design utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Overall the review found CTAP to be a valuable and effective capacity development program. The review found that CTAP affords Afghan ministries the opportunity to articulate their own institutional needs, and find the right person to build staff capacity. CTAP was also found to have developed robust recruitment systems, procedures and policies to date. The review identified some areas for improvement including the need to expand the CTAP Secretariat to provide adequate support for ministries, strengthen the monitoring and evaluation system, and strengthen logistical and security support to technical advisors.