The Civilian Stabilisation Group (CSG) is a pool of skilled individuals who are willing and able to deploy to fragile and conflict-affected countries to assist the UK Government in addressing instability. They make a valuable contribution to improving governance and promoting peace in countries affected by violent conflict. Members of the CSG work in areas such as project management, communications, infrastructure, justice, stabilisation, disarmament, economics, policing, institutional reform, agriculture, health and public finance.

The CSG is made up of over 800 Deployable Civilian Experts (DCE) who are leaders in their specialist areas; and over 200 members of the Civil Service Stabilisation Cadre (Cadre), UK civil servants from over 30 Government departments and agencies. 

The Stabilisation Unit is responsible for managing and administering the CSG. It identifies, trains and manages the deployment of these civilians, all of whom have the experience, the behaviours and subject matter expertise critical to successful work in stabilisation. Members of the CSG are available for deployment often at short notice, for assignments of between a few days to a year in fragile and conflict-affected areas.

Why is the CSG needed?

There are many causes of instability where timely intervention can often prove critical to the success of a stabilisation operation.  Getting civilians on the ground early and with the right skills, can make a significant difference to the length of recovery and the outcome. Delivering this requires a reserve civilian capability, who are prepared and ready to go rapidly and who can work on a variety of issues.  To do this we need to ensure we prepare in advance to meet future challenges and have an understanding of what skills and experiences we have available at any moment.