Failure Report

Failure Report

It is not often that you will have the opportunity to hold in your hands a ‘Failure Report’ for a failure report is not something that is often broadcasts. These reports are synonymous with the dark past that people may carry with us but hide, as we believe the outside word perceives these ‘failures’ as being bad and unfavorable and thus something that should be hid. Surprisingly I have recently been handed a failure report which does just as the title suggests, reports on the failures. This particular report is that of the well-known and acclaimed group, Engineers Without Borders, from 2010. Immediately I was impressed with this brave stance to publicly acknowledge the mistakes that they have made.  I believe there is much that can be learnt by looking back at our mistakes as life is often a process of trial and error where very little goes quite as planned. 

William H.Gates Sr., Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation states in the forward of the report “…Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada continues its bold leadership on this practice, by highlighting several mistakes and failures made throughout the year and analyzing how they have learned and improved”

                                                                              

Of course as noted it is not merely enough to acknowledge the mistakes that have been made. For progress to occur these acknowledgements must be followed up by an analysis of what has been learned and how things can be improved. I think it would be beneficial for more organizations to publicly share similar experience as there is much to be improved upon in the world of development.

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I do applaud Engineers Without Borders for taking action and wish to share some insight which I gained from this report as told by individuals in various areas of the organization.

Luisa Celis, African Programs Staff Governance and Rural Infrastructure (Ghana), was involved in a program to enhance district data systems to facilitate evidence based planning and decision making processes in the Summer of 2010.

A project which I believe is of great value as it could provide good direction for many changes and programs to come in the future. Statistics also tend to be very lacking in areas of development because of the difficulty of collecting, thus I believe there is also a great amount of room left for improvements.

Luis learned ‘it’s not about the tools it’s about the process’ and that you must remember that the goal is not to give yourself a pat on the back for having the most successful idea, rather to enable the community as much as possible. Luis noted that in many cases there are already many ideas and reforms which have been implemented into communities (developing communities primarily) and that they begin competing against each other, which in the end is only detrimental. She suggested approaching the situation by offering something that they may choose to use and which may further strengthen what they currently have in place. The common approach seems to more usually be “we have the tool that works” and this need to be adjusted.

I believe the realization that your solution may only be one piece of the puzzle, and that there are currently other pieces at work is vital to the success of any new idea. Not only respecting the development progress of other organizations but even more importantly understanding the cultural processes which have always been in existence.

Mark Hemsworth, African Programs Staff, Agriculture Value Chains – Rent to Own (Zambia) provides some insight into mistakes made in the sector of customer service. Mark was the lead on the Rent to Own pilot project, a micro-leasing business, situated in rural Zambia and built on the acknowledgment of the inability for farmers to attain the machinery which they desired to increase productivity of their farming.

Mark found that the lack of education which people had on the topics of machinery usage and maintenance resulted in many costly problems for the project. He attributed this problem to his lack in investments in capacity and now sees that it is important to look at the whole picture and the individual stepping stones that will be needed along the way.

While I believe it is hard to act methodically, and thus slowly, when it seems like the issues which you are addressing call for immediate action and each minute you waste could mean the loss of another life. But while I believe organizations have the ability to have a very positive impact, I also believe that not taking time to consider all the details can leave an area in more devastation than when you/the organization arrived.

James Haga, Director of Advocacy Canadian Programs shared a valuable lessons on advocacy after the results of the ACT (Accountable, Creative and Transparent) campaign, during the G8 and G20 summit, did not result in as much action has he had hoped. His lesson was that simply having people support a set of principles does not result in action or change. He also suggested that for your message to be powerful you must have a plan of action to follow up on this support. 


The Indian Independence movement would have not been successful if Gandhi had not brought his people to action, rather had just preached about injustice. The action taken in this movement was also initiated by the movement leader Gandhi himself which sent an even stronger message to the people who had already agreed they supported the principles which his actions were based upon. I can find parallels in my life, as I imagine may others could as well to Jame's story. A great example of this would be facebooks online 'pettion' sites. While these sights do bring about great awareness about certain issues, the information concerning the issues are to easily accessible, simplistic and dumbed down. This means that people do not have to invest themselves in the cause and make an effort to understand the issue at hand or assess other points of view on the matter. It is too far to easy to 'support' a cause - with litterally one click of your mouse and give yourself a pat on the back - think you have made a difference and forget about it - never making any action.


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For everyone in the Engineers Without Borders organization that has shared their failures with myself and so many others...

THANK YOU


Similar to the events reflected on above, I am currently going through my own failure report of my own as I evaluate and look at my personal history and where I cracked under pressure. While I believe I have done an amazing amount of developing this year that has been very positive I also  have seen highlighted many areas for improvement. Like the Engineers without Borders failure report my self evaluation is not just about acknowledging the areas of failure but looking at what could have been improved or been changed so that this same 'failure' does not repeat itself. I acknowledge there are emotional situations in which I find my coping abilities greatly depleted and thus my abilities to carry out the task on hand. I acknowledge that this reaction is usually due to the fact that I become overly connected with the emotionally driven environment I am in and natural choose to think and act with emotion rather than logic. I acknowledge that I often underestimate the ability of my voice and message. I acknowledge that do not always practice what I preach. I acknowledge that I have the tendency to spread myself to thin as I try to invest myself in too many areas.  I too acknowledge that there are a lot of people who respect and admire the work I do (not tooting my own horn - just acknowledging the truth of the matter has it has been presented to me by many people) and that I need to continue to strive to help them take action themselves and also to share what I learn with these people. 


In acknowledging these things I have been able to think about what other roots I could take to reach more desirable outcomes and hope to strengthen some of these 'failures' while abroad in Kenya


I hope you accept me for my failures but will help me find a new path which will lead me to greener pastures. 


Life is full of learning .. you just have to be open to the experience.