Scaling Up the Fight Against Rural Poverty - FIDAfrique

Delivering intermediate results: Along the scaling up pathway it is important that the program
produces intermediate results. This is necessary to allow for the testing and, where needed, adaptation
of the approach. But it also helps with ensuring the buy-in of community, government and other
stakeholders. 7
Selecting IFAD’s operational modalities for scaling up: IFAD has various options for applying its
operational modalities in supporting the pathways for scaling up:
• IFAD can use its own resources for scaling up (top-up, repeater projects, programmatic
approaches, etc.), work in partnership with other agencies (co-financing, sector-wide
approaches, etc.) or hand-off to other donors, the government or non-governmental partners.
• IFAD can finance investments, provide technical assistance or engage in policy dialogue.
• IFAD can scale up an intervention within a country or across countries.
Putting in place monitoring and evaluation (M&E): M&E are key ingredients of a successful scaling
up strategy: First, during the implementation of the pilot or experimental stage, the intervention needs
to be monitored to learn what are the drivers and spaces (opportunities and constraints) that may affect
an eventual scaling up process, and the impact of the pilot in terms on the lives of the rural poor need
to be evaluation (preferably against a control group). Second, during the scaling up process monitoring
will provide important feedback on any unforeseen aspects of the scaling up pathway and permit the
adapting the pathway as needed. Intermittent evaluation of the impact of the scaled up program during
implementation and after completion is needed to ensure that the expected results actually materialize
and to learn lessons for the next steps of the scaling up pathway.
Risks of inadequate attention to scaling up pathways: A number of problems can result from not
paying due attention to scaling up pathways, including the following:
• opportunities for scaling up may be missed (“Type 1 error”) or scaling up may be done badly
(“Type 2 error”);
• not paying attention to costs risks creating “boutique” approaches that only work in the small;
• setting up special purpose entities (e.g., PIUs) rather than working through ministries may
limit institutional options later;
• working with limited financing mechanisms, not identifying policy constraints and working
with small implementing partners (such as NGOs) may limit the potential for scaling up later;
and
• lack of effective, timely M&E may lead to poor decisions in scaling up.
D. Key steps in the scaling up process
In conclusion, in exploring and implementing a scaling up agenda, IFAD needs to pursue the following
key steps:
Step 1: Define the scale of the issue to be addressed and the appropriate scale of intervention up
front along with a suitable time horizon.
Step 2: Define suitable pathways of scaling up by identifying the drivers and spaces for scaling up,
including the costs of project implementation (or service delivery, etc.).
Step 3: Explore the institutional, organizational and policy context that allows scaling up.
7 See Schaffer and Ashkenas (2005)
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