Dear colleagues,

As the Scaling Community of Practice (SCoP) enters its 11th year, we are pleased to present Newsletter 33.

Once again, we are delighted to offer you, our 5,000+ members, the latest news about SCoP activities and exciting scaling news you have shared with us. In particular, this cover letter provides an update on some recent developments the preparation of our “Campaign to Mainstream Scaling 2026-2030.”

The Mainstreaming Campaign 2026-2030

As we informed you in the Newsletter 32, we are preparing the Mainstreaming Campaign 2026-2030, which we expect to launch early in 2026 in response to the current crisis in development and climate finance. This crisis requires that all development and climate actors use the newly constrained financial resources more efficiently and effectively, and this in turn means that they need to focus on how to integrate a systematic scaling approach into their operational approaches.

The Mainstreaming Campaign 2026-2030 therefore is designed to mainstream scaling in the institutional ecosystem of development and climate actors (governments, development banks, commercial and social enterprises, innovators, official and charitable funders, academia and think tanks, and other intermediary organizations). Over the last six months we have been very busy with the preparation of the Campaign in the following areas:

• Organizational set up of the SCoP: As of 1 July 2025, we have completed the transition of the SCoP from Management Systems International (MSI) as our administrative and financial host to Dalberg Catalyst, a global nonprofit organization whose mission is to co-create and accelerate systems solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. We are grateful to MSI for having supported us very effectively for over ten years and look forward to working under the auspices and with the support of Dalberg Catalyst. As of January 2026, we expect to put in place a professionally managed SCoP Secretariat.
• Approach and substantive focus of the Campaign: We prepared a summary of the Campaign that lays out the rationale and approach for the Campaign. We also prepared a list of possible new substantive areas through which the Campaign would like to actively pursue its agenda of mainstreaming scaling.
• Partnerships: It is clear to us that the SCoP will succeed with the Campaign only if we work closely with all of our members. We have therefore started a systematic outreach to potential partners. Please let us know if you would like to engage with the Campaign in support of its major activity areas (funders, country platforms, capacity building), any of the 15 new areas noted above, or if you see other areas where you could actively pursue the mainstreaming agenda as part of the Campaign.
• Funding: The SCoP will need resources to finance the secretariat, the influencing activities, funder engagements, the work to develop country-specific initiatives, training/capacity building, and to conduct meaningful work on the 15 substantive areas and beyond, together with its partners. We are conducting an active fund-raising effort for the Campaign. We look to you, the SCoP membership, to help us identify potential funding sources.
• Annual Forum: We are planning our next Forum for February 2026. This will be an opportunity to launch the Campaign and showcase member engagement in its implementation.

Mainstreaming Scaling in Funder Organizations

As a forerunner to the Mainstreaming Campaign, the SCoP launched its flagship Initiative on Mainstreaming Scaling in Funder Organizations in early 2023 as a three-year action-research project designed to gather the experience of development and climate funders in integrating scaling systematically into their operational practice. The objective of this initiative is to document and share best practice and promote more effective support for scaling among funder organizations with the ultimate goal of helping countries achieve sustainable impact at scale.

We have now posted 16 case studies of how specific funders have mainstreamed scaling in their operational activity and expect to complete a total of 25 case studies by the end of September 2025. We also have posted an overview of scaling by education funders and will post similar overviews for agriculture and for foundation funders. Based on these case studies, we will prepare a Synthesis Report by October 2025 that will summarize findings and lessons. This report will build on the Interim Synthesis Report and Policy Brief that were posted in June 2024, based on the first 12 case studies.

As reported in the attached Newsletter 33, we have started active dissemination of the case studies with webinars organized by the Mainstreaming Working Group and have organized major events to share preliminary findings and to promote the core ideas of the mainstreaming agenda among funder organizations. These events included (i) a hybrid session in December 2024 in Washington, DC, jointly organized with the Society for International Development, (ii) a hybrid event in June 2025 in Paris, jointly with Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and (iii) a virtual official side event organized with AFD and OECD-DAC at the 4th Financing for Development Conference in Sevilla.

We are especially interested to hear from you if you are interested in participating in or supporting the Mainstreaming Campaign in one of the ways framed above.

With many thanks for your participation in the SCoP and your active support of the Mainstreaming Campaign,

Larry Cooley, MSI, and Johannes Linn, Brookings

AMEA

Transforming Food Systems by Transforming Services to Agri-Enterprises – The Agribusiness Market Ecosystem Alliance (AMEA)’s mission is to transform the systems that support farmers’ organizations and agri-SMEs to create value for farmers and their enterprises. AMEA’s approach is to provide a platform that enables stakeholders to learn, innovate and scale up the most effective ecosystem approaches for supporting farmers.  AMEA has a global theory of change which is used to stimulate national multi-stakeholder dialogues.  These dialogues produce contextualized local BDS Roadmaps that have different strategies to change the BDS market system in each country. AMEA recently published a blog outlining examples of success and enablers to change.

Mark Blackett blackett@ameaglobal.org

CGIAR

Special issue in Agricultural Systems Journal on: Responsible Scaling for Transformative Impact – This special issue organised by Wageningen University & Research and CGIAR Scaling for Impact will highlight the tensions and opportunities in achieving transformative responsible scaling and advance the discourse and conceptualization of responsibility in scaling. The special issue will:

1. Broaden how “responsible scaling” is defined and applied in agri-food transformations
2. Illuminate tensions and opportunities in merging transformative and responsible approaches
3. Showcase practical solutions to navigate responsibility trade-offs
4. Identify key tools, practices, and frameworks that can support responsible scaling of agri-food innovation
5. identify key ingredients, practices and tools for promoting responsible scaling

Esther Kihoro E.Kihoro@cgiar.org

FAO

Breaking Barriers to Scale: Insights from FAO’s Pathways to #ZeroHunger Forum – At FAO’s Science & Innovation Forum on October 18, 2024, the session “From Start‑up to Scale: Pathways to #ZeroHunger” brought together diverse stakeholders—from grassroots innovators and government bodies to UN agencies and private-sector partners—to explore how agrifood innovations can be scaled effectively. Through storytelling, examples like India’s SEWA and Chile’s PROCASUR illustrated how community-led solutions can expand through knowledge-sharing and financial inclusion. A reflective panel emphasized that successful scaling requires adaptive, locally tailored approaches, tolerance for failure, risk-taking, and strong multi-sector partnerships. The session concluded with a clear call to integrate science, innovation, and investment in systemic pathways in order to transform the agrifood landscape one scalable solution at a time.

Martina Miracapillo Martina.Miracapillo@fao.org

HarvestPlus

Biofortified Wheat Scaling Success – The scaling of Akbar 2019, a zinc-enriched wheat variety, marks a transformational shift in Pakistan’s agricultural and nutritional landscape. Just a few years after its official release in 2019, biofortified zinc wheat now spans over 42 percent of Pakistan’s total wheat cropping area. This significant scaling success has maintained momentum, mobilizing substantial investment in the agricultural sector. In the 2024 to 2025 cropping season, approximately 187,000 metric tons of certified zinc wheat seeds, alongside farm-saved seeds, were planted. This initiative mobilized over USD 85 million annually in public and private sector investments in seeds, with nearly 80 percent coming from private companies. The resulting zinc-enriched wheat grain production is projected to reach around 15 million metric tons this year, accounting for over half of the country’s total wheat production, with an estimated market value exceeding USD 5 billion. Led by HarvestPlus and its partners, the successful scaling of Akbar 2019 showcases the powerful synergy of research, innovation, public-private collaboration, and policy advocacy in driving private sector investment and combating zinc deficiency, a critical public health concern in Pakistan.

Yaqub Mujahid m.yaqub@harvestplus.solutions

Heifer International

Community Agro-Vet Entrepreneurs: Scaling Livestock-based sustainable Livelihood – The Community Agrovet Entrepreneurs (CAVE) initiative has transformed rural livestock care in East Africa by training over 1,500 local entrepreneurs: many of them women and youth, to deliver essential veterinary services and livestock management support. Over the years, these entrepreneurs have improved animal health, boosted productivity, and increased household incomes in underserved areas. Through a market-driven model and strong public-private partnerships, the program has built sustainable livelihoods and strengthened rural economies across the region.

Anamika Priyadarshini Anamika.Priyadarshini@heiferindia.com

Climate Change

The UWI St. Augustine

Focusing Caribbean Planners on Scaling Up of Projects – A draft scaling-up guide was recently presented at the Caribbean Urban Forum. The presentation highlighted the imperative for scaling up across the Caribbean and advocated for defining scaling for lasting impact. It identified core success factors related to robust funding, strong stakeholder engagement, dedicated champions, and the early integration of scaling into project design. The speaker emphasized the need to cultivate an enabling environment and offered the scaling-up guide as a tool to outline enabling conditions, best practices, and practical approaches to address challenges.

Jaymieon Jagessar Jaymieon.jagessar@uwi.edu

Education

Brookings Institute

What to do When It’s Not the Right Time to Scale – Community members and practitioners often want to scale. But, what should implementers do when they realize that it is not the opportune moment to scale? Authors propose that, if the moment is not right to scale, implementers might reassess their assumptions, recommit to listening mode, focus on deepening their roots, analyse data for future scaling, and engage in frank conversations about trade-offs.

Molly Curtiss Wyss MCurtiss@brookings.edu

AXUM

Unlocking government resources to scale-up innovations – As official development assistance for education declines and private philanthropy remains limited, unlocking government resources becomes critical to scaling education innovations. Elimu-Soko addresses this by supporting governments to align education spending with evidence-based, cost-effective solutions, prioritizing government ownership over external agendas. Its model — starting with government priorities, not donor interests — has proven effective, as shown in Zanzibar where a pilot with TeachUNITED improved learning outcomes significantly at low cost. The government’s commitment of personnel instead of funds illustrates how non-financial contributions can drive sustainable scale-up, embedding innovations within existing systems and unlocking long-term impact.

Devang Vussonji devang.vussonji@axum.earth

Curious Learning

Curious Learning Reaches One Million Learners in 2024 – Curious Learning continues to refine its innovative approach to literacy learning through scalable, engaging, digital learning tools. Their content is now available in over 50 languages, and in 2024, they reached more than one million learners. They continue to expand their content and scalability with the support of their partners, including their collaboration with iCog (Ethiopia) and the Global Digital Library. They also continue to study their impact at scale through the multilayered learning impact data collected by their learning apps, allowing them to adapt their tools to focus on the needs of individual learners across different geographic regions.

Creesen Naicker cnaicker@curiouslearning.org

Health

Health Working Group Update

The Health Technical Working Group (HTWG) Co-Chairs are delighted to announce that Tendai Gotora from Spark Health Africa has come on as the third Co-chair of the Working Group. Tendai currently serves as the Director of Programs at Spark Health Africa, which is focused on health system strengthening through transformative leadership development and collective impact. Tendai brings a wealth of expertise in public-sector health system strengthening to the role of Co-Chair. Fellow Health Technical Working Group Co-chairs, Dr. Mojisola Odeku from the Gates Foundation and Laura Ghiron from ExpandNet’s Secretariat, extend their warm welcome to Tendai and look forward to closely partnering with him to advance the 2025 to 2026 goals of the Working Group.

As we look ahead to planning the coming year’s activities, the Co-chairs plan to send out a brief survey in the coming month to gather input from the Working Group’s membership on the scaling topics of greatest interest and ideas for which meeting formats would be most valuable. We encourage all Health Technical Working Group members to complete the survey to share their recommendations that will help shape future learning opportunities, including the 2025 Annual Forum.

Laura Ghiron laura.ghiron@expandnet.net

Asia Pacific Society for Physical Activity

Fundamentals of Scaling Up in Physical Activity Training Course – APSPA’s special interest group Scaling Up Physical Activity (SUPA SIG) is thrilled to announce that registrations are open for the Fundamentals of Scaling Up in Physical Activity. This course is for those interested in:

• Learning how to maximise impact of initiatives that support more people in more places.
• Enhancing knowledge of ways to increase reach, impact, and sustainability of physical activity promotion at scale.

This self-paced course includes ten 30-minute webinars covering a range of topics important for scale up. Drawing on evidence and experience, the course will equip participants with knowledge and tools to undertake and evaluate scalable physical activity promotion in the future.

Harriet Koorts h.koorts@deakin.edu.au

CARE

You’re Confident Your Program Works – But Can it Scale? – The international development sector has been grappling with the question of scale for decades, recognizing that our best hope of solving intractable global problems is to scale what works. Given recent paradigm shifts in the development and humanitarian sphere, funding is more uncertain than ever, which makes directing limited resources toward proven, scalable solutions more important than ever. However, CARE and IDinsight recently found themselves questioning, not only what makes an intervention successful, but whether successful always means scalable. To answer this question, they developed a set of methods and insights to guide decisions about what, whether and how to scale.

Anita Sundari Akella (anita.akella@care.org), Rico Bergemann, Will Thompson, and Zahra Khan

ExpandNet

Development Outcomes Center’s Scaling Workshop – In May 2025, the Development Outcomes Center, an ExpandNet Affiliate Organization in Nigeria led by Dr. Sada Danmusa, worked with Femi Quaitey to facilitate a two-day scaling up workshop with more than 20 staff from four Gates Foundation-funded projects of the Society for Family Health: Adolescents 360, e-Pharma, IntegratE, and the SWIFT Project. Program managers and project directors participated in a hands-on deep dive into ExpandNet/WHO’s framework and tools for applying a systematic approach to scaling up public health interventions. The first day centred on building foundational knowledge, emphasizing the importance of a scaling mindset and working systematically, guided by learning of what makes scale succeed. The team shared key scaling definitions, concepts and principles, with special focus on how to design projects to ensure successful scaling from the outset. The second day enabled practical application of ExpandNet/WHO guidance tools, with participants applying the Nine step approach for scaling up strategy development to their own projects through guided group work. The agenda featured expert presentations, case studies, interactive discussions, and collaborative exercises using the scaling guidance to deepen understanding and support applications within family planning and primary healthcare initiatives in Nigeria.

The Scaling Accelerators Leads Workshop for HANDS Welfare Foundation – The Scaling-up Accelerators (TSA), ExpandNet’s Affiliate Organization in Pakistan led by Dr. Haris Ahmed, conducted a two-day organization-wide workshop for the HANDS Welfare Foundation (HANDS) in Karachi in May 2025. The workshop centred on orienting organization staff to the science and practice of scaling up, based on the ExpandNet/WHO scaling-up framework and guidance tools. The workshop applied these concepts across several HANDS projects, with a particular focus on the Gates Foundation funded Marvi Project as an illustrative case. Participants analysed the project’s strengths, gaps, and opportunities through a scalability and sustainability lens. They also identified key implementation challenges that may hinder scale-up and outlined immediate and longer-term actions to enhance institutionalization and impact. The workshop supported practical learning, systems thinking, and strategic planning across HANDS’ health, education, and WASH initiatives.

Laura Ghiron laura.ghiron@expandnet.net

Mainstreaming

JustSystems

Do We Fail to Get Scale because We Fail to Get Government? – People who seek to have impact at scale often start with the idea, innovation, evidence, pilot – work to get it really right in a ‘lab’- and then seek to have it influence policy and practice. But what if we are getting that backwards? In this piece for SSIR, authors argue that we may want to start with government, with politicians and public servants, seek agenda alignment and build trusted relationships, and then support people in government find the right evidence, co-create design and navigate the political economy of bureaucracies to implement the work at scale.

Rajani Rajani and Tim Hanstad rrajani@justsystems.org; Tim.Hanstad@chandlerfoundation.org

Spring Impact

Scaling in a More Frugal World? – In recent years, momentum has grown to take evidence-based solutions to scale through governments. In today’s global development landscape, characterized by deep funding cuts and increasing needs, this strategy has never been more relevant. BRAC shares lessons learned in scaling through eight years of working alongside governments on a graduation approach to lift people out of poverty.

Greg Chen gregory.chen@brac.net

Social Enterprise

ScaleChanger

Supporting the Scaling of Social Entrepreneurship across Europe –  Did you know that 91% of social entrepreneurs in Europe wish to scale their organisations but only few can do so due to the lack of appropriate support. Indeed, very few social economy support organizations (SESOs) – e.g. incubators/accelerators/networks – currently provide training programmes linked to scaling. To address this gap, a group of European partners including ScaleChanger, Reach for Change, ACT GRUPA, GROUPE SOS Pulse, Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia and Euclid Network are currently developing the Scaling Catalyst project.

Scaling Catalyst is a 2-year project aiming to build the capacities of support organizations and their ability to support social entrepreneurs towards scaling impact. The two-year project is funded by the European Union and consists of a phase of data collection and needs mapping. Based on this data, the partners will co-develop a self-assessment tool to help organisations evaluate their readiness for scaling, along with a strategic guide offering step-by-step support in designing tailored programmes.

Gloria Ba g.ba@scalechanger.org

Youth Employment

Education Development Center (EDC)

Improving Education and Employment Outcomes for Out-of-school Youth – Designed to promote sustained and scalable shifts at the system level, this project engaged several national and local government agencies; the private sector; out-of-school youth (OSY) and the organizations representing them; education and training service providers; youth-serving organizations; and families and community groups. Its holistic design was intended to empower OSY to socially and economically engage in their communities. An evaluation of the project found it improved service delivery sustainably at scale, supported connectedness of OSY education and employment transitions, resulted in more effective leadership, and achieved positive mindset shifts among youth.

Rachel Blum rblum@edc.org