Failure Files by IDR – Details, episodes & analysis

What should a nonprofit think about when planning for scale? In today’s episode, Sarita Upadhyay reflects on her initial years at Medha, a nonprofit that helps young people transition from the world of education to employment. She talks about the time the team got an opportunity to scale the organisation’s programme. However, decisions based on assumptions, gaps in internal communication, and an overall lack of preparedness resulted in the team at Medha losing out on almost two years of work.

Sarita Upadhyay is a seasoned professional with more than 16 years of experience in the social and corporate sectors. As a core team member of Medha, she has helped in building the organisation from the ground up over the last 10 years. Currently, she is leading the strategy team at Medha. Her responsibilities are developing and implementing strategies for influencing the public education system, programme design, strategic partnerships, and execution of large-scale projects. Sarita has an MBA in Human Resources.

Read more:

1. Read Sarita’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

What happens when an organisation’s ambitious plans exceed its ability to execute them? On today’s episode we have Gaurav Singh, co-founder of Slam Out Loud, a nonprofit using the arts to build communication skills in children from vulnerable communities. Gaurav talks about the time when he and his co-founder took on more work than they had the capacity to manage. With their attention spread thin across multiple areas, they ended up losing the project of their dreams.

Gaurav Singh is a purpose-driven social entrepreneur with eight years of work experience in education and leadership development. He is the co-founder of Slam Out Loud and has been an entrepreneur incubatee at some of India’s most reputed social incubators. He was the winner of Unleash’s accelerator program in Shenzhen, China. He is also a certified action learning coach from the Action Learning Center, UK, and has shared his journey and learning through two TEDx talks and multiple leadership-based forums.

Read more:

1. Read Gaurav’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

Is technology the solution to providing quality education in India? Shravan Kumar used to think so, until he was proven wrong. The nonprofit he co-founded worked on improving access to quality education in the Naxal-affected districts of Bihar. Back then he thought that technology could easily replace teachers and lead to better learning outcomes. On today’s episode, he shares how his assumptions prevented him and his team from identifying the loopholes in their EdTech intervention.

Shravan Kumar is the co-founder of i-Saksham Education and Learning Foundation, a nonprofit that engages rural youth as community education leaders. Shravan is also an Acumen Fellow and a Prime Minister Rural Development Fellow, with four years of experience in the microfinance sector at Samhita and SKS Microfinance Limited.

Read more:

1. Read Shravan’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

What happens when co-founders can’t agree on organisational priorities? On today’s episode of Failure Files, Garima Sahai shares her experience of co-founding Svadha, a social enterprise providing high-quality sanitation solutions for rural India. She talks about how the absence of a detailed road map for the growth of Svadha led to differences between her and her co-founder, resulting in Garima stepping away from the organisation.

Garima Sahai is a United Nations and Forbes recognised social entrepreneur in public health. She is the regional head (Asia) of strategic partnerships at Medtronic LABS, where she oversees the expansion of all their social businesses through government and large-scale institutional partnerships. She previously co-founded Svadha, a social enterprise driving an ‘unorganised’ rural WASH market to a ‘solution-driven’ organised sector. Garima is an economist by training and has more than 13 years of global multisectoral experience in impact measurement, strategy, and business development.

Read more:

1. Read Garima’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

Can the power dynamic between a funder and grantee ever be equitable? Public health professional Dr Sapna Surendran tells us how a misalignment of expectations between the two led a programme to fail, and an organisation to lose a funder.

Dr Sapna Surendran is a public health professional currently working with an international nonprofit. She works closely with the national and state health ministries to strengthen private sector engagement for tuberculosis (TB) services. Sapna is also involved in the design and development of interventions in mental health and cancer control. At the national level, she has played a key role in developing and institutionalising the national guidance note on partnerships to improve the scope and quality of TB services at the community level.

Read more:

1. Read Sapna’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

What happens when a series of professional decisions shatter your sense of identity? Zubin Sharma answers this question by telling us about his experience as founder and CEO of Project Potential, a nonprofit working on sustainable development in the rural district of Kishanganj, Bihar. On today’s episode of Failure Files, he talks about the problems he faced at the start of his entrepreneurial journey, which led him to question his self-worth as he navigated the challenges of building a successful social impact organisation.

Zubin Sharma is the founder and CEO of Project Potential, which is creating an ecosystem to attract and develop people, organisations, and resources required for sustainable development in rural Kishanganj district of Bihar. Zubin has done his BA and MS from the University of Pennsylvania and is a former Acumen Fellow, N/Core incubatee, and Dasra Social Impact Leadership Fellow.

Read more:

1. Read Zubin’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.
   

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

What happens when your performance at work becomes the only definition of your self-worth? In today’s episode of Failure Files, we’ll hear from Shruthi Iyer about her year as the executive director of a nonprofit working with children from low-income communities. She tells us about how her achievements came at the cost of her mental health, and how she failed not only as a leader and colleague, but as a daughter, friend, and partner.

Shruthi Iyer is a development sector professional currently serving as the CEO at Foundation for Mother and Child Health (FMCH) India. FMCH works on issues of maternal health and malnutrition in urban low-income communities in Mumbai. Shruthi has formerly worked in full-time and consulting roles across sectors focusing on strategy, fundraising, technology roll-outs, and programme development.

Read more:

1. Read Shruthi’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

What does it mean to run a truly feminist organisation? Reflecting on this question is Disha Mullick, CEO of Chambal Media, a feminist media enterprise. Chambal Media runs Khabar Lahariya, a news platform that trains women from remote villages in North India to be professional journalists and produce local news in their own language, and from their own perspective. The team is led by a diverse group of women who cut across boundaries of class, caste, and geography. In today’s episode, Disha talks about how she failed to put into practice what a truly feminist organisation should be in the midst of difficult organisational changes.

Disha Mullick is the CEO of Chambal Media, a company that produces media for rural audiences. Chambal Media runs Khabar Lahariya, a news brand where women from remote villages in North India are trained to be professional journalists and produce local news in their languages, from their perspectives. Disha has a master’s degree in gender studies from the University of Warwick, and has been an Acumen Fellow. She has previously worked in publishing and as a journalist.

Read more:

1. Read Disha’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

Is corruption simply a cost of doing business in some countries? In today’s episode of Failure Files, social entrepreneur Ghazanfar Iqbal tells us about a time when he had to choose between doing what is easy and doing what is right, and how this decision turned his life upside down.

Ghazanfar Iqbal co-founded AutoSahulat, a VC-funded start-up working towards empowering mechanics in Pakistan. He also has more than a decade of experience in the corporate sector. He is currently working as the country head of corporate sales at Careem and is also a founder of the digital media enterprise GuzPro. Ghazanfar is an Acumen Fellow and a mentor at the National Incubation Centre, Islamabad.

Read more:

1. Read Ghazanfar’s story on Failure Files.
2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.
3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.
4. Understand why the social sector must recognise and talk about failure.
5. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org

In this episode, philanthropist, author, and journalist Rohini Nilekani speaks to India Development Review (IDR) co-founder and CEO, Smarinita Shetty, on why failure needs to be underwritten in the social sector. She talks about the importance of creating a space that normalises failure in the context of nonprofit work, how philanthropists can support failure in practice, and the role they must play to enable growth in the sector.

Rohini Nilekani is chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and co-founder and director of EkStep, a nonprofit education platform. She is also the founder and former chairperson of Arghyam, a foundation she set up in 2001 for sustainable water and sanitation. From 2004 to 2014, she was also the founder–chairperson and chief funder of Pratham Books, a nonprofit children’s publisher. A committed philanthropist, Rohini also sits on the board of trustees of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), an environmental think tank.

Read more:

1. Read Rohini’s full interview on Failure Files.

2. Read more failure stories on Failure Files.

3. Check out some ideas and tools from Fail Forward to help your organisation take risks, learn, adapt, and fail intelligently.

4. Learn why talking about failure is crucial for growth.

5. Learn more about Rohini Nilekani and her work.

Want to share your failure story? Learn more about what we’re looking for here, and share your pitch/story on writetous@idronline.org

The Failure Files podcast is produced by India Development Review (IDR), an online journal focused on the development sector. IDR publishes cutting-edge ideas, lessons, and insights, written by and for the people working on some of India’s toughest problems. To learn more, visit www.idronline.org