Learning from FailureReflections from 30 years in Development

A discussion starter

S Batchelor

Reflections on the words

• Failure? “Didn’t go to plan”; “Didn’t fulfil the intended purpose”; “Hurt people”; “Waste money”; “Didn’t work out as expected”; “Was too difficult to actually do”

• Learning? “Know something now that doesn’t work”; “learnt some new factors that need to be considered next time”; “gained insights into peoples behaviours”; “realised that the target was wrong” “when a failure is really a distorted success”

Some stories

• Kevin and his South American thesis

• Spedding and the grass and cows

• Cambodia – failure as a discursive introduction

• Windpumps – design failure, marketing failure

• Cambodia – dams, ducks, mushrooms

• Cambodia – doing things properly business plan for pumps (rise and fall of pumps and their contextual relevance)

Kevin and his South American thesis

Spedding and the grass and cows

Cambodia – failure as a discursive introduction

Windpumps – design failure, marketing failure

Cambodia – dams, ducks, mushrooms

Cambodia –doing things properly business plan for pumps (rise and fall of pumps and their contextual relevance)

Whats on the web

• https://www.admittingfailure.org/

• EWB failute reporting http://legacy.ewb.ca/en/whoweare/accountable/failure.html

Failure in a safe place

• DFID – Willing to fail? Daily mail – wasted money.

• Entrepreneurs – willing to fail? Disheartening, but investment was clearly sign posted

• The poor – cannot fail due to lack of margins. So how can they learn?

• Create safe place to fail

• Cambodian game playing, role plays

How to learn?

• Discussion

• Learning events

• Learning labs

What do we know

What don’t we know/do we want to explore?

What do we suspect

What resources/tools/literature already exists?

A key question – what have we learned about failure?

References and Photo Acknowledgements

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechua_people

• https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjc1JW5wJrMAhXEWxQKHQv-BKQQjhwIBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FDairy_farming&bvm=bv.119745492,d.d2s&psig=AFQjCNE3zBrld5n34EUfkF2_DQmmjsoj3g&ust=1461144495913309

• https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj966ymwJrMAhWFVBQKHclcATMQjhwIBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTakao_Furuno&bvm=bv.119745492,d.d2s&psig=AFQjCNHUH63LHToK7CcAwzHUEzr6uo_IGw&ust=1461144853628999

• https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sustainablecambodia.org%2Fcambodia%2F&bvm=bv.119745492,d.d2s&psig=AFQjCNFHBJszcjsNvCe4ndhcQMH7mMC3cw&ust=1461144628208690

• https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj229GuwJrMAhXHvBQKHd4dBlcQjhwIBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.howtopedia.org%2Fwiki%2FHow_to_Build_a_Windpump_(Principles)&bvm=bv.119745492,d.d2s&psig=AFQjCNELSnnaYmLwz5uY-H9jJRJ5A6FP2A&ust=1461144680312125

• https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj189irs5rMAhVBuxQKHTf-CL4QjhwIBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpixabay.com%2Fen%2Fphotos%2Fwelding%2F&bvm=bv.119745492,d.d2s&psig=AFQjCNGR2HTlZwBEZuWJd_4_fS8nS4_Ywg&ust=1461144968016681

• https://www.admittingfailure.org/reading-room/

• http://legacy.ewb.ca/en/whoweare/accountable/failure.html

• http://www.ewb.ca/sites/default/files/EWB_FAILURE%20REPORT.pdf

• https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjbq8K6uJrMAhXGaRQKHQZnB68QFgggMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-3510827%2FRevealed-UK-aid-funds-TERRORISTS-budget-cuts-12bn-taxes-splurged-foreign-hand-outs-militants-killers-Palestinian-palaces-jobs-don-t-exist.html&usg=AFQjCNHHEJms9RL5Oh9-TyDeVXPaUmc1xA

• http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/blog/2015/apr/13/why-daily-mail-right-aid-money-wasted-wrong-we-must-reduce-it

• https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi11Mnfv5rMAhUKmBoKHfdJCFAQjhwIBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.entrepreneur.com%2Farticle%2F227011&psig=AFQjCNH9oR3LZ650RsxGad3Ib7lZGtWC2Q&ust=1461146604729993

• https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiY3vTSv5rMAhVLnBoKHf2kBx0QjhwIBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.preventionweb.net%2Frisk%2Fpoverty-inequality&psig=AFQjCNGlmHpCbRB7Q0jezkRVMgIVDlq5Iw&ust=1461148279458506

• http://3rdworldfarmer.com/

• https://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/PPInBrief9_Embedding_Reflective_Practice_LearningLabs_Beynon_Fisher.pdf