Jury prize to Vredeseilanden: Through trial and error, this Belgian NGO developed a successful purchasing system for agricultural products in Congo.

Audience Award for Text to Change: This organization got the unlucky number 666 allocated for HIV/AIDS education via SMS in Uganda.

Amsterdam, 20 september 2010

On Friday 17 September became the prize for the best learning moment in development cooperation (YOU) awarded for the first time during the 1% EVENT in Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam.
The jury prize went to the Belgian organization Vredeseilanden. pitching your own learning moment and other exercises tailored to common themes and problems within the department, succeeded in developing an effective purchasing system for agricultural products. The ultimate success is partly based on lending by local savings cooperatives instead of foreign parties. The entry underlines the evolutionary nature of projects and demonstrates Vredeseilanden's ability to actually convert lessons learned into successful innovations..

The audience award went to Text to change (TTC), an organization that set up an HIV/AIDS information quiz via SMS in Uganda. On the morning of the launch, TTC received the code from the authorities 666 assigned, number of the Antichrist, the devil. All involved (Christian) parties wanted to stop the program immediately. After much hassle, the number was changed to 777… Most important lesson: Keeping an eye on the ball is what this is called in football terms, TTC was so focused on all external factors that they forgot to check their own SMS code.

The aim of the prize is to promote transparency, the learning capacity and innovative power of the development cooperation sector. After all, even in that practice, things sometimes go differently than anticipated. That's okay. As long as people and organizations learn from mistakes. And from wrong choices and assumptions. True learning ability is a sign of strength and entrepreneurial spirit. And it promotes innovation. But that takes courage and an open dialogue – with each other and with the general public.

The prize is an initiative of the Institute for Brilliant Failures (Dialogues/ABNAMRO) and the development organization Spark. Sponsors include the OS industry organization Partos and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Contact:

Bas Ruyssenaars

M. 06-14213347

E. redactie@briljantemislukkingen.nl