The lessons identified here are based on ideas that have been developing across Government and on our deepening understanding of what works and what doesn’t
work on the ground. They will hopefully be of use to policymakers, practitioners and programme managers working in and on conflict-affected environments.
The complexity of the challenges in stabilisation environments require integrated solutions at multiple levels. Rather than re-inventing our responses to each new
crisis, we need to identify relevant lessons from past experience, learn from these, and adapt them to the specific requirements of each new environment.
The identification of lessons remains just the first step. We need to ensure that the lessons are actually ‘learned’. This requires a genuine commitment at all levels to learning from the past, the dedication of resources (human and financial) to support the learning process, and the development of systems to feed lessons back into policy, planning and practice. The lessons learning process should be a continuous cycle.
UK SIN Top Lessons from Stabilisation and Conflict.pdf