Scaling Readiness adopted by the One CGIAR to operationalize its 2030 Strategy

Published on: March 28, 2021, Submitted by Victoria Clarke on: March 15, 2021, Reporting year: 2020

Sustainable Development Goals Contribution

Scaling Readiness is a component of the new stage-gating and performance management framework of the One CGIAR implying a major, cross-CGIAR change that is already widely recognized as externally significant as this will imply the consideration, acknowledgement and adoption by all CGIAR Initiatives.

Fig. 1. Scaling Readiness Barrel to illustrate how innovation(s) with the lowest readiness limit an innovation package's capacity to achieve impact at scale.

The purpose of Scaling Readiness (SR) is to improve the efficiency and impact of research for development programs through critical reflection on how ready innovations are for scaling and what appropriate actions could accelerate or enhance scaling. The use of agricultural innovations at scale is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. SR offers research for development project teams and organizations such as the CGIAR a toolkit to support the design, implementation and monitoring of scaling strategies at project and portfolio level. Embedding key principles of SR within the One CGIAR performance management systems will increase the likelihood that investments in CGIAR will yield impacts at scale.

Scaling readiness aiming at scaling systems transformation, resilient agri-food systems and genetics, using basic science evidence is uptaken in One CGIAR Performance Results Management Framework. The innovation, through CGIAR research activities, contributed to change the discourse and or behaviour among next users such as the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) from the CGIAR close sphere of influence. In particular, CGIAR centres, such as IITA and ILRI are embedding principles of Scaling Readiness in their projected and performance management systems. The adoption does not concern only boundary partners and their behaviour change but has also concerned the European Union, Food and Business Platform and GIZ Taskforce. 

The research methodology – Scaling Readiness – has been used in CGIAR Research and Innovation Strategy as it exemplifies the ways forward in how this research methodology will be integrated into impact pathways in innovation systems. Effectively the associated concept to scaling readiness “innovation package” was used in the strategy that contributed to advising management on the identification and performance management of CGIAR Initiatives. The concept and its methodology will serve as criteria for performance and the data collected from the methodology as raw data to further implement strategies for impact and accompany scaling ambitions within all projects from One CGIAR. 

The target outcome related to the adoption of Scaling Readiness (SR) methodology in the One CGIAR strategy is for a direct influence on improving the approach to innovation management and scaling based on the principles of Scaling Readiness and indirectly target 100 million farming households in developing countries to have adopted CGIAR best-fit technologies by 2022. In addition, 4 Scaling Web Conferences were jointly organized in 2020 by members of the CGIAR Science Leaders community, the CGIAR System Management Office,  CGIAR  scaling specialists, and the GIZ/CGIAR Task Force on Scaling. Thus, Readiness was adopted by International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Impact at Scale Program I@S Framework. ILRI exemplified how to integrate such a concept into agricultural research for development programs, including a deep dive into the Scaling Readiness tool. Effectively, this led to the first scaling readiness full assessment of livestock innovation published by CRP livestock. Thus, the SR assessment has helped the Livestock CRP Uganda Pig Value Chain Project team to conceptualize project proposals differently and help plan a pilot on quality assurance with local private sector partners for 2021. Effectively, “Agricultural research for development is increasingly being held accountable to demonstrate that research goes beyond successful pilots,” said Iain Wright, deputy director-general of research and development at the ILRI.On a related outcome, SR has served as a framework for two platforms: adopted into IITA Propas platform and developed within scaling readiness portal launched in January 2020. Whilst the former focuses on solutions for agricultural transformation in Africa through scaling readiness framework and methodology, the latter focuses on relevant guides, publications and news related to the concept helping next-users adopt and encourage critical reflection on how ready an innovation is for scaling and what appropriate actions can be taken in order to scale. Witnessing this level of development, media exchanges have taken place and scaling readiness has been published in blogs, news and publications. Effectively, the European Union Capacity4Dev publishes a blog on Scaling Readiness. A Research Article in Agricultural Systems elaborates on the basic concept of scaling readiness including stand-alone innovation, innovation package as well as bottlenecks. In relation to that 10 publications have been published in Agricultural Systems to explain the concept and ease its adoption in terms of theoretical and practical applications. Finally, related to communication materials, Food and Business Platform publish a blog referring to Scaling Readiness, CIMMYT refers to Scaling Readiness in its news.

Stage of Maturity and Sphere of influence

  • Stage of Maturity: Stage 1

  • Contributions in sphere of influence:
    D.1.3 - Increased capacity for innovation in partner research organizations

Acknowledgement

Scaling Readiness was developed as an integral part of the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) and supported by CGIAR Fund Donors, including the European Commission and EU countries. The development of Scaling Readiness was led by Wageningen University and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in close collaboration with the International Potato Centre (CIP), Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

CRPs & Partners

References

Keywords

innovation performance innovation systems strategy agrifood systems scaling readiness results framework systems transformation performance management genetic innovation

Countries

About the author

Enrico Bonaiuti is Program Management Officer at International Potato Center - CIP.