The U.S. military has several different lessons learned organiza-
tions/systems to collect and identify lessons and best practices,
including the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL), the
Joint Lessons Learned Information System ( JLLIS), and the
Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned (MCCLL). The Sta-
bility Operations Lessons Learned & Information Management
System (SOLLIMS), established in 2008 by PKSOI, is unique
in that it focuses on peace and stability topics and is outside
the DoD firewall, allowing access to international practitioners,
non-governmental organizations, and academia.
Many of the U.S. military LL systems, especially CALL, have
an impressive capability to send teams to collect vast amounts
of information. Once recommendations from these lesson
observations are implemented and/or systematically reviewed,
they are validated as lessons that have been learned. CALL,
MCCLL, and others systematically validate tactical lessons.
However, given the American cultural propensity to ahistori-
cism, there is serious question as to how often strategic stability
lessons, while faithfully recorded, are actually learned or applied
to future endeavors. More research is needed to examine to
what extent strategic lessons are consistently incorporated into
decisive future action.
This disconnect is evident in current and ongoing political
discussions. Proposed budget cuts to the DoS and USAID,
for example, run counter to two decades of lessons in Iraq and
Afghanistan, where inadequate resourcing of USG civilian
agencies resulted in DoD personnel being tasked to perform
development activities, which they were not prepared to accom-
plish. Even when senior DOD leaders advocated not to
reduce the DoS and USAID budgets, this did not neces-
sarily translate into concrete Congressional action. The
disconnect between lessons identified and lessons learned
thus remains vast.
The function of Lessons Learned is not just to record the
past, but to influence the future, ideally avoiding repe-
tition of the same mistakes in order to more effectively
consolidate gains in peace and stability. On a large scale,
the disconnect between lessons identified and lessons
learned must be addressed with systematic mechanisms to
incorporate lessons into strategic decision-making through
policy, which will then effect doctrine, education, and
training. This, however, is not the only key to bridging
the gap. Lessons must be written and shared in such a way
that connects with people to influence/implement change.
Lessons cannot achieve their function unless they are com-
municated effectively.
SOLLIMS occupies a unique space in the U.S. military
lessons learned community because its lessons are about
broader concepts of peace and stability, not tactical
military procedures (which are captured by CALL). As
discussed in PKSOI’s recent lessons learned publication
on Peacebuilding, in order to achieve peace, peace must
first be visualized as a tangible possibility. As such, imag-
ination is a key initial step in improving consolidation
of gains in peace and stability. Strategic lessons must be
communicated in a way that allows people to visualize
Sample Vignettes.
Have you ever considered the role of rumors in exacerbating election violence? Women in Kenya did – and used
innovative technology to verify and question rumors so that they would not escalate, successfully preventing
post-election violence in 2013. (Operationalizing WPS)
Have you considered how the identity of a researcher can affect the quality of information gathered? In
Syria, recruitment of women as field specialists has been vital to implement monitoring, evaluation, and
research tools in order to achieve accurate societal assessments. (Monitoring & Evaluation)
Did you know that when victims have a chance to tell their stories, and perpetrators acknowledge the impact
of their actions, there is a possibility for healing from the damage of war? Victims and perpetrators of
Sierra Leone’s civil war talked together about the past and forgave each other around bonfires through the
community-level Fambul Tok transitional justice program. (Peacebuilding)
Read these lessons and more in PKSOI’s quarterly SOLLIMS Lessons Learned Samplers.
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