For members of the working group based in the U.K the SanCop event detailed below maybe of interest to you.

Peter

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“Learning from Failure in Sanitation” – 14 November 2012 - call for participants and discussion leaders

The workshop “Learning from Failure in Sanitation”, the 11th meeting of the UK Sanitation Community of Practice (SanCoP), will be held on Wednesday 14th November (11am-5pm), kindly hosted by WEDC at Loughborough University. Registration is now open.

SanCoP 11 will ask how we can learn from our failures in sanitation. What questions does the recent trend of ‘admitting failure’ in aid and development raise for the sanitation sector? What do we mean when we talk about failure? What role does talking more openly about failure play in making our work better?

The workshop will combine case studies of failures and lessons learned with broader discussion about how the sector can use the idea of failure to help learning. The emphasis will be on open discussion, sharing experiences and networking.

Attendance is free. However places are limited - please email sancop.uk@gmail asap stating your name and organisation to reserve a place.

The focus of the day will be on sharing experiences from all participants through group discussions. If you are interested in helping lead a discussion, please contact sancop.uk@gmail and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 5th October with a couple of sentences explaining your ideas, and we’ll then get in touch to discuss further. This could be sharing a case study of a particular failure, or addressing a wider question of how we learn from failure. We are particularly keen for students and young professionals to be involved. Some starting points are given below but other ideas are also welcome.

• As a sector, how do we learn from failure? What role does talking more openly about failure play in making our work better?
• Should we think of failure as part of risk management? Should we plan for some failures and their consequences, but manage these to keep them small?
• Is ‘admitting failure’ different to existing organisational learning and ideas of ‘lessons learned’?
• Is ‘admitting failure’ dangerous for implementers given increasing emphasis by donors on value for money and measurable results?

Please share this with others who may be interested.

Looking forward to seeing you there!


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Many Thanks,

SanCoP Coordinating Team
Hayley Sharp, Ruth Kennedy-Walker and Stephen Jones

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
IWA WaterWiki: : www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/WorkGroup_SanCop/
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/groups/SanCoP-UK-Sanita...actice-4417083/about

Stephen Jones

Research Student
Department of Geography
Royal Holloway, University of London

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+44 7775 802221 (UK) / +223 7881 8107 (Mali)