Amsterdam, 9 October 2012

The Prize for the best learning moment in the development cooperation sector 2012 was awarded to FACT for their experiences with Jatropha in Mozambique, Mali in Honduras. The prize was awarded to Ywe Jan Franken of FACT by Prof. Paul iske, the founder of the Institute of Brilliant Failures.

Last Thursday, during Partos Plaza – the annual meeting for development

organizations – workshops organized around three different “brilliant failure” themes. Except for the winning case of FACT, Cases were also presented from The Hunger Project and ICCO. Partos Plaza participants voted for the case they thought was the best brilliant failure: a project that failed despite good intentions and thorough preparation, which led to a learning moment.

The first theme was 'uncertainty and risk taking', and discussed a case of The Hunger project (with the provocative title 'Shit Happens'!) and their recent experience awarding the Africa Prize for Leadership. By presenting the prize to an African leader who has done a lot in the field of hunger reduction, THP is sticking its neck out to get this topic high on the international political agenda. Unfortunately, not everything always goes according to plan: the former President of Malawi stopped behaving like a good leader just two weeks after his nomination. The case illustrated the importance of sticking to your own principles, deal quickly and decisively with problems when they arise, and take all possible steps to avoid harm to innocent third parties.

The second theme was 'navigating in a complex world' in which a case of ICCO was treated (getiteld ‘Not for profit = not for business?Spy) about a not-for-profit company on the verge of bankruptcy. The company got off to a great start and had succeeded in their mission of linking smallholder cooperatives with large supermarket chains. However, commercial actors had also seized their opportunity and the company was subsequently unable to resolve its dilemma in time: maintaining an NGO focus or developing into a fully commercial, competitive company. The case illustrated the importance of having a clear role, a well-thought-out strategy and procedures, and having an exit strategy if necessary.

The third theme was 'continuous learning from experience' and dealt with the case of FACT (titled “He Who Sows Shall Reap”?”) faced with unexpectedly low returns from 3 Jatropha projects. FACT – like many other NGOs and commercial actors – had high hopes for Jatropha as a source of locally produced and reusable biofuel. Despite the disappointing results of Jatropha, have the communities involved benefited from other, additional investments in energy infrastructure. In addition, FACT has built up considerable knowledge and network through their Jatropha projects and used this experience to thoroughly review their strategy.

The aim of the Brilliant Failures Award is to promote entrepreneurship, learning from experience and transparency in the Development Cooperation sector. The award is an initiative of the Institute of Brilliant Failures (which is another initiative of the ABN-AMRO's Dialogues House), in collaboration with international development NGO SPARK and the branch association PARTOS.

Contact: Bas Ruyssenaars

Tel. +31 (0)6-14213347 / Email: redactie@briljantemislukkingen.nl