Scaling Up the Fight Against Rural Poverty - FIDAfrique

Chapter 3
Scaling Up in IFAD’s Recent Operational Practice
In this chapter we explore whether and how IFAD has tackled the scaling up challenge in its
operational work, through its country programs and projects on the ground. Our review did not involve
a comprehensive assessment of all country programs and operations. Instead, we carried out two
country case studies, reviewed selected relevant evaluation documents, considered IFAD’s practices in
selected thematic areas and explored IFAD’s operational scaling up experience in interviews with
IFAD staff. This chapter starts with a summary of the two country case studies prepared for this
Review. It then reviews the results of three recent Country Program Evaluations carried out by IFAD’s
Office of Evaluation (IOE), and summarizes the findings from our thematic reviews. This is followed
by a summary of the conclusion of the recent “Corporate level evaluation of IFAD’s capacity to
promote innovations and its scaling up” by IOE . The chapter concludes with summary observations
on scaling up in IFAD’s current operational practice.
A. Case studies of scaling up in IFAD country programs
The review team carried out two case studies devoted specifically to assess the experience with scaling
up in two of IFAD’s country programs. The studies involved document reviews, a visit to each country
by a member of the team and interviews with IFAD staff and with in-country stakeholders. In this
section we summarize the main conclusions for each of the two countries.
1. Peru Case Study 8
Since 1980 IFAD has provided a sequence of eight loans to Peru totaling $115.4 million. These loans
have principally addressed the needs of small-scale farmers in the Peruvian highlands. Taken together
the last five of these eight loans – known by their short titles as “FEAS”, “MARENASS”,
“CORREDOR”, “SIERRA SUR” and “SIERRA NORTE” – in effect represent a pathway for a
complex, but overall successful scaling up process. 9 The scale of impact has been impressive: IFAD
projects targeted 150,000 households and probably reached a lot more. FEAS, MARENASS,
CORREDOR and SIERRA SUR have reached 1,610 communities, or about 30% of the roughly 5,000
poor communities in Peru’s highlands. This country program provides an important example for the
development of a scaling up pathway with its multiple aspects and dimensions.
a) Scaling up pathway – the sequencing of innovations:
IFAD’s projects in Peru supported the introduction of a series of innovations that included:
• transforming a supply-based system for the provision of technical assistance and extension
services to a demand-driven service under market conditions by transferring monetary
resources directly to beneficiary communities for them to contract services provided by private
contractors (MARENASS and FEAS);
8 Barbara Massler carried out the Peru case study.
9 Evaluations of individual projects show largely successful project completions. The overall evaluation of
the country program by IFAD’s Independent External Evaluation in 2005 commented favorably on the
scaling up experience of the Peru country program (IFAD Office of Evaluation 2005a). A report for the
2004 Shanghai Conference on Scaling Up also reported on IFAD’s positive experience with scaling up in
Peru (Massler 2004).
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