Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something. Morihei Ueshiba
As individuals and organizations, we must learn to not only accept but to embrace failure. Since we deal with increasingly complex problems infrequently unstable and unpredictable contexts,
our work requires innovation and risk-taking, sometimes leading to unexpected and unfavorable outcomes.
In response to rave reviews from the 2016 and 2017 events, we were pleased to host the 3rd edition of the SEEP Fail Fest at the 2018 Annual Conference. The SEEP Fail Fest is designed to
experience interacting with failures productively, build a culture of communicating failures in a way that maximizes learning and generate ideas for applying this learning across
organizations and contexts. Be sure to join the fun on Wednesday morning, October 3 as SEEP members bravely share their stories from the field.
Women Farmers and The Hospitality Industry: The Promise and Pitfalls of A New Market
Chaired by: VSO
What is the best method for linking women farmers to a hotel industry eager to invest in women’s empowerment? Farmers Associations were used to connect female farmers to the hospitality
market. Yet, unstable income, supply constraints and othelimitations created barriers to success. VSO’s attempt to facilitate women’s entry into a new market has mixed results.
Speakers: Frank Girabi, Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)
Financing Vocational Training for Youth: Lessons from a Market-Driven Project
Chaired by: World University Service of Canada
Sri Lanka’s booming economy has a high demand for skilled personnel. With young people looking into Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and a private sector ready to
employ them, what could go wrong? Join us to learn how flawed assumptions led to the failure of a fundamental piece of our market-driven project!
Speakers:Esther McIntosh, World University Service of Canada (WUSC)
Loans, Subsidies and Sanitation: Lessons in Scaling the Unscalable
Chaired by: iDE
How do you improve household sanitation for the poorest market segment? We had solid evidence that loans for latrines could work, yet scaling proved difficult. We misunderstood the incentives
of our financial services partners and failed to develop a viable operational model. Ultimately, market barriers were more complex than we anticipated.
Engaging Private Sector to Reach Women: The Struggle is Real!
Chaired by: Market Development Facility (MDF)
High demand for milk but low yields due to information gaps – how hard can it be to develop a business case in this scenario? Well, it’s easier said than done. Join the rocky
journey of a program as it attempts to develop sustainable training models for female farmers.
The Story of Dooit: A Mobile App for Adolescent Girls
Chaired by: Save the Children
We designed a mobile app to strengthen adolescent girls’ financial capabilities and employability skills in Indonesia. On paper, it looked like we did everything right. But did we
really know our customer, the most important technological variables or the process well enough? You guess.
