Lessons Learned

Events

S/CRS co-hosted a workshop March 11-12, 2008 in Gettysburg, PA on Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Lessons Learned. The workshop brought together more than 80 practitioners, trainers, policy-makers, and lessons-learned experts from across the USG to examine experiences in both Iraq and Afghanistan PRTs.

This workshop was co-chaired by S/CRS, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Stability Operations), and USAID. The U.S. Army’s Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) and the Consortium for Complex Operations provided financial and logistical support.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

• Develop lessons and feedback for training, deployment, operations, and management of current PRTs;
• Identify lessons that need to be institutionalized through the development of future U.S. government interagency capabilities; and
• Examine concepts for the development of a U.S. government lessons learned system for reconstruction and stabilization.

The workshop examined PRTs holistically, noting fundamental differences between Afghanistan and Iraq. The focus was on the U.S. experience with perspectives provided by UK and Canadian representatives.

Workshop participants made observations in several key areas:

• PRT Principles – roles and missions
• Organizational Constructs – coordination at the provincial, regional, and national levels and with host government institutions
• Planning and Resourcing Mechanisms
• Operational Support – security, logistics, communication, knowledge management and public affairs
• Personnel and Training
• Learning from Experience – metrics and lessons learned.

For each of these key areas, more in-depth ideas and observations from the workshop were explored.

• Transition Elections and Political Processes in Reconstruction and Stabilization Operations: Lessons Learned (11/01/2007)
• Lessons Learned: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) in Reconstruction and Stabilization Operations: A Guide for U.S. Government Planners (04/01/2006)