A Museum of Lessons

As a society today, we speak only of our successes, putting taboos on our failures, by refusing to acknowledge that they happen out of pride and shame. But by refusing to look at these failures, we limit the capacity to change and develop ideas, which, with minor adjustments, may shift the functionality of the program and in doing so, change lives.
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On Monday, I fulfilled a dream of mine by visiting the Cap Haitien SOIL office. Evan, Julien, and I caught a tap-tap from Cap Haitien and rode along the bumpy road through Limonade, eyes peeled for the EkoLakay Kompost sign that marked the entrance to the SOIL compound.

We spent the day meeting with Marion, the Project Manager, visiting the composting site and walking through gardens where the compost was being tested on different plants. These experiences offered an incredible amount of insight into what Asepsis could do, but what I found the most intriguing was the museum of toilets that had developed over the past ten years, since the inception of SOIL.

In a hexagonal room in front of the SOIL office, toilets -- new and old -- filled the perimeter of the room. As Marion explained, she had collected these toilets to build a museum as a tribute to the work that SOIL has done. For me, this was unusual -- a tribute to the failures of a development project seemed taboo in a world where only successful projects are displayed as the glories of an organization. However, these different toilets were not a sign of failure, but rather a sign of growth and a mature organization that recognizes where it needs to change.

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Ultimately, this is what determines whether or not a development project will be successful -- the ability of a model and organization to determine what needs to change and actively change. So often in development, the focus is on the short term, on the implementation of a project. But rarely does monitoring and evaluation take place and, if so, negative results are neglected as the group moves onto developing a similar model elsewhere in a different location.

But rather than becoming discouraged when the community block of toilets was not properly maintained, SOIL adjusted their model for individual household toilets, providing a pick-up service rather than a commodity From here they continued to develop their toilets, adjusting the material from concrete to wood to cement and continually shifting the size and the shape. To this day, they continue to work on innovating the toilet, perfecting it so it can be as low cost, efficient, and useful as possible for optimum customer satisfaction. The fact that they created a museum to showcase these changes speaks volumes for the kind of organization they are.

As a society today, we speak only of our successes, putting taboos on our failures, by refusing to acknowledge that they happen out of pride and shame. But by refusing to look at these failures, we limit the capacity to change and develop ideas, which, with minor adjustments, may shift the functionality of the program and in doing so, change lives. It is time development organizations start thinking like SOIL, acknowledging where they have failed, discussing how they can improve, and turning these discussions into real-time actions. Only then will organizations see successful projects and only then will development discourse change for the better.

I left SOIL that day reinvigorated and ready once again to work in the sanitation field. The past few weeks I had been discouraged, questioning if I truly wanted to enter a field where success was not guaranteed but criticism was. But spending the day at SOIL taught me that it was okay to fail and, more importantly, it was okay to talk about my failures, as long as I was willing learn from my mistakes and put these lessons into practical use. Failure is mutually exclusive with life. If you're breathing, chances are you will fail once in your life. The risk is even higher in development, where criticisms seem to come in ten fold relative to praise. But with a shift in perspective, failure can become the most valuable lesson a development organization can receive, besides a room full of toilets.


To find out more about the valuable work that SOIL is doing in Haiti check out their website.

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