Last updated: 02/11/2007

Civil Service in the news

Whitehall on the Shatt al-Arab

Since this article was written the Post Conflict Reconstruction Unit have changed their name to the Stabilisation Unit

“It was a fascinating, if occasionally frightening, experience”. Daniel Korski talks about his experience of heading up the Basra Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) and the work of the Post Conflict Reconstruction Unit (PCRU).

The Basra Provincial Reconstruction Team at work.

In 2006 I spent a year as Deputy Head of PCRU. The PCRU, which is jointly owned and staffed by DFID, FCO and MOD, facilitates HMG cross-government planning for stabilisation work in countries in or emerging from violent conflict. PCRU also provides 'civilian experts' to work in conflict-ridden countries often alongside the armed forces and coalition partners. In early 2007, in the capacity of 'civilian expert', I took up a short-term posting as Team Leader for southern Iraq's only UK-led PRT. This came about due to the requirement for a specific skill set and my availability at short notice.

My posting with the Basra deployed civil-military unit meant managing a key part of the UK's effort in Iraq. Originally invented in Afghanistan, PRTs were conceived as a way to cover a country with limited troops and to allow for development work in high-risk areas. From 2005 the US-led Coalition began establishing PRTs in Iraq with the UK taking charge of the Basra PRT. It was a challenging role to take on as PRT's tend to be blamed for many of the coalition efforts' problems or are expected to be the cure-all for every reconstruction issue. PRTs are neither and I found that the Basra PRT exemplifies what is being accomplished by this innovative civil-military construct. The Basra team of military and civilians from three different countries worked closely with local Iraqi officials. We helped build local institutions, rejuvenate the economy, reconstruct dilapidated parts of the city and key facilities, like the court house and the prison. On a USD $60 million budget, a typical day has the PRT's 20-odd staff assisting the local council in drafting its Provincial Development Plan, training judges in the Iraqi law, overseeing the refurbishment of Basra's airport, supporting the Provincial Council's outreach to vulnerable communities as well as its links to Baghdad - and still have time to duck when a dozen mortars would slam into our compound.

The military's role is, of course, paramount in securing the city and training the Iraqi Security Forces. But while the military may achieve a great deal, they ultimately trade in what the former Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir Mike Walker, called 'strategic first aid.' However, treatment, convalescence and cure - the aims of post-conflict reconstruction - require skills across a far wider range than a purely security-focused organisation can provide. It remains an essentially political and economic task, not a military one. It's a task that the PRT, and back in London, the PCRU has been created to fulfill along-side partners in the FCO, DFID and Police Service.

A key part of PCRU's work is to synthesise experiences like mine into lessons for future deployments. Identified from my work, and that of many other PCRU staff deployed, is that successful stabilisation requires for example: establishing the legitimacy of government; demonstrating some form of peace dividend; and buying time for a permanent peace settlement.