Scaling Up the Fight Against Rural Poverty - FIDAfrique
Scaling Up the Fight Against Rural Poverty - FIDAfrique
Scaling Up the Fight Against Rural Poverty - FIDAfrique
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first laid out in 1978 and as subsequently amended (IFAD 1998). If successful, IFAD’s projects were<br />
to be handed off to o<strong>the</strong>r, better resourced institutions for <strong>the</strong> scaling-up of those innovations. As<br />
envisaged by its founders, IFAD was to play a proactive role in this hand-off process.<br />
Over <strong>the</strong> decades since its creation IFAD has tended to focus more on innovation, less on <strong>the</strong> catalytic,<br />
scaling up dimension of its institutional mandate. However, even in its early years, IFAD contributed<br />
to scaling up at least in some areas. Of special note is its support for what later turned out to be a<br />
Nobel Prize-winning initiative, <strong>the</strong> Grameen Bank. IFAD’s two loans in <strong>the</strong> 1980s were a major source<br />
of funding for Grameen Bank, contributing a third each to its total sources of funds in 1984 and 1985,<br />
and two-thirds in 1986. 4 This was a significant factor allowing Grameen Bank to take off.<br />
Starting in <strong>the</strong> early 2000s IFAD recognized <strong>the</strong> opportunity which scaling up represents for <strong>the</strong><br />
institution. Statements that stressed innovation and scaling up increasingly appeared in its strategy<br />
documents. In 2004 IFAD actively participated in <strong>the</strong> Shanghai Conference on scaling up organized by<br />
<strong>the</strong> Chinese authorities and <strong>the</strong> World Bank at <strong>the</strong> behest of World Bank President James Wolfensohn.<br />
In connection with this event IFAD made a strong case for scaling up and commissioned a case study<br />
on <strong>the</strong> IFAD’s scaling up experience in Peru. 5 As we will document in this report, IFAD’s country<br />
programs show a number of successful scaling up experiences. However, a recent evaluation by<br />
IFAD’s Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD’s record of innovation and scaling up finds that<br />
“[e]ven though <strong>the</strong> need to scale up innovations has long been recognized by IFAD, it is not<br />
adequately built into country programmes” (IFAD Independent Office of Evaluation, 2010, p. 66) and<br />
concludes that IFAD needs “to treat scaling up as mission-critical” (ibid., p. 76).<br />
Why a scaling up review for IFAD?<br />
Prior to <strong>the</strong> recently completed evaluation of innovation and scaling up carried out by IFAD’s<br />
Independent Evaluation Office and to this scaling up review, IFAD had not analyzed its record, its<br />
operational policies and processes, and its institutional capacity for scaling up. 6 In this regard IFAD is<br />
no exception among official aid agencies. While Hartmann and Linn (2008) concluded that scaling up<br />
has in recent years become <strong>the</strong> focus of analysis for selected sectors and <strong>the</strong>matic areas, <strong>the</strong>y did not<br />
find any assessment or evaluation of <strong>the</strong> institutional scaling up capacity and practices of individual<br />
aid agencies. Therefore, one of <strong>the</strong>ir recommendations for improved aid delivery was that aid agencies<br />
should carry out institutional scaling up “audits” or reviews. IFAD is <strong>the</strong> first development assistance<br />
agency to sponsor such a review. This can serve as an input for IFAD’s management to decide whe<strong>the</strong>r<br />
and how to enhance IFAD’s orientation and capacity for scaling up. It can also serve as a pilot<br />
assessment, which o<strong>the</strong>r aid agencies may wish to emulate.<br />
This is an especially important and opportune time for IFAD to focus on <strong>the</strong> scaling up agenda for a<br />
number of reasons:<br />
• In <strong>the</strong> wake of <strong>the</strong> global food crisis of 2007/8 <strong>the</strong> international community has renewed its<br />
attention to food security, agriculture and rural development.<br />
• The G8 summit at L’Aquila in 2009 committed to raise $20 billion for food security.<br />
4 1983 was <strong>the</strong> year of Grameen Bank’s formal establishment. For background on <strong>the</strong> early years of Grameen<br />
Bank and documentation of IFAD’s engagement see Hossain (1988). The numbers cited in <strong>the</strong> text at taken from<br />
Table 42 on p. 71.<br />
5 See Elhaut (2004), Massler (2004).<br />
6 The innovation and scaling up evaluation overlapped substantially in time with <strong>the</strong> institutional scaling up<br />
review. While <strong>the</strong> former focused principally on innovation, <strong>the</strong> latter focused principally on scaling up.<br />
However, <strong>the</strong> scaling up review benefitted significantly from <strong>the</strong> assessment of <strong>the</strong> evaluation results and <strong>the</strong><br />
staff survey carried out by <strong>the</strong> Office of Evaluation; and Johannes Linn served as Senior Adviser to <strong>the</strong><br />
evaluation. The exercises were <strong>the</strong>refore highly complementary and to mutual benefit.<br />
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