Mistakes made by organizations are often not reported, but the Institute for Brilliant Mistakes aims at promoting a positive attitude towards mistakes made in the development cooperation sector. The Institute seeks to stimulate entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour. Interaction with the greater public and creating trust within the development sector are crucial for innovation and learning. An open dialogue about mistakes is also essential for achieving this.
A Brilliant Mistake is a well- prepared project with a different outcome than wished for, from which a great learning moment is derived. Every organization active in development cooperation is asked to send in their most Brilliant Mistake (not older than 5 years) until September 1st 2010.
You can also e-mail your case to redactie@briljantemislukkingen.nl. Remember that the learning moment is essential for the assessment of whether or not the mistake is brilliant! Pictures and short videos are a great way through which to portray the Brilliant Mistake.
The winner will receive an honourable award on Friday the 17th of September in ‘Pakhuis De Zwijger’ in Amsterdam during the 1%EVENT. Moreover, the first 10 submissions will receive a free entrance ticket for the 1%EVENT.
For questions about the event or the initiative you can always contact Chantal Sanglier via email c.sanglier@spark-online.org or via telephone 020- 7530190.
In depth
Time and time again history has shown us that our most valuable experiences are more likely to come from mistakes than from successes. We learn from our failures and our failures are a source of inspiration for others. In this respect failure is not only an option but failure is also necessary!
At the same time many of us behave in a risk adverse fashion because we feel that the negative consequences of failure are more important than the potential rewards of success. And when we make mistakes, we tend not to learn from them. Our learning capacity is blocked by the negative way in which failures are viewed by the world around us.
In the broad area of development cooperation, like in many other branches, the pressure to show results and to justify spendings adds up to a declining climate for personal and collective learning. To stimulate transparency and learning capacity in development cooperation a number of Dutch organisations in International development initiated The Brilliant Failure 2010, an award for the best learning moment in development cooperation.
The Brilliant Failure 2010, an award for the best learning moment in development cooperation is an initiated by The Institute of Brilliant Failures and Spark and supported by Partos, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Icco and Fondsen.org