Impact/Failure Conclave 2022
Beyond the Binary
Successes in Failures and Failures in Successes
SELCO Foundation along with our partner organisations is hosting the second edition of the Impact/Failure Conclave
– a platform to encourage deep, open discussions that blur the boundaries between success and failure in the development sector. The mission of the conclave is to create an environment that encourages stakeholders to own their failures, learn and evolve. Register here and participate in the Impact/Failure Conclave 2022 to dive deeper into these questions.
WHERE
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
WHEN
25-26th November, 2022
About Impact/Failure
Societal change is a tall, complex order with many moving parts and unique factors that could make or break an intervention. These programmes are designed to benefit those that exist on the margins of society and any gap in accepting and acknowledging failure could be critical. A bridge is necessary to achieve systemic, productive change. It is the need of the hour for us to come together and discuss our failures so we can avoid making the same mistakes, and recognise failure and learning as a core part of our organisational process.
Failure/
Stories
A collection of failure stories as admitted by thought
leaders and experts in the development sector. We welcome
you to read, listen, and learn from these free-flowing
conversations on failure.
Our Journey
The Impact/Failure Conclave held in 2018 was an outcome of SELCO Foundation’s unwavering
commitment to acknowledging failure and learning from it. The mission of the conference
was to create an environment that encourages organisations to own their failures, understand what went wrong, learn what worked, and what
can be carried forward.
The second edition of the Impact/Failure Conclave will be held in November 2022, the theme for which is Beyond the Binary. The idea is to open up the narrative of impact and failure in the development context, and examine interventions through the lens of successes in failures and failures in successes.
Our Journey
The Impact/Failure Conclave held in 2018 was an outcome of SELCO Foundation’s unwavering
commitment to acknowledging failure and learning from it. The mission of the conference
was to create an environment that encourages organisations to own their failures, understand what went wrong, learn what worked, and what
can be carried forward.
The second edition of the Impact/Failure Conclave will be held in November 2022, the theme for which is Beyond the Binary. The idea is to open up the narrative of impact and failure in the development context, and examine interventions through the lens of successes in failures and failures in successes.
Highlights from Impact Failure Conclaves
“Culturally, we define success narrowly and appreciate it highly. Because of these narrow tight definitions, the collaborative spirit affects our ability to talk to each other about what is happening. The conversation should change.”
Dr. Veena Joshi,Energy and Development Consultant 
“Rare is the donor who says let me fund you after I find out how much you have failed. It’s not that inside organisations we don’t reflect but to come out and publicly be able to talk about failure has become much more difficult.”
Rohini Nilekani,Activist, Founder and Philanthropist 
“We hesitate to talk about our own failure but freely pass judgement on other people’s failures without giving them a chance to defend themselves.”
- Svati Bhogle,CEO, Tide, Managing Director, SustainTech India Private Limited 
“Choosing good, worthy problems is the first step to avoiding failure.”
- Robert Stoner,Deputy Director, Science and Technology, MIT Energy Initiative 
“How do you talk about failure? Very clearly, with brutal honesty, with humility as well.”
- Svati Bhogle,CEO, Tide, Managing Director, SustainTech India Private Limited
“If we dig a little bit deeper into success and failure, different cultures react differently. In the Netherlands, they celebrate the Prime Minister bicycling to work, which probably wouldn’t happen in the US.”
- Jeffrey Prins,Programme Manager of Renewable Energy ,IKEA Foundation 
“Lots of people talk about failures but they talk about the failures of the government, other agencies. We need to reach a point where people are comfortable talking about their own failures.”
- Pakzaan Dastoor,Former Associate Director, Dasra 
“If you think of the role of philanthropy, the role is to take risks.. And if the role of the philanthropy is to take risks with that comes the possibility of failure.”
- Pakzaan Dastoor,Former Associate Director, Dasra
“At the end of the day it’s to change the culture; a mindset question about large collaborations, large conversations, broadening the definitions, and designing new metrics to look at what’s changing on the ground.”
- Dr. Veena Joshi,Energy and Development Consultant
"The reason we always fail among big donors is that our work does not fit in a logframe, we cannot assume what will happen for the future of manual scavengers in the country, it is not about their struggle and achievement but how the rest of the country reflects and responds to what we are saying. That is the measure of our success."
- Bezwada Wilson,Activist, Founder of Safai Karmachari Andolan, and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee 
“If you are born into a particular caste or community in India, that itself is a failure. Society has already decided and designed my life to be a failure."
- Bezwada Wilson,Activist, Founder of Safai Karmachari Andolan, and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee
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Submit Your Story
Share your failure story with us and contribute to a culture
that can admit and learn from what did not work, one where failing and learning are shared and celebrated.
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