Esther Kihoro

Researcher, Science and Practice of Scaling, CGIAR

Agriculture & Rural Development Working Group Co-Chair

Esther Kihoro is a recognised researcher and scaling practitioner with over 15 years of experience in agriculture, gender, climate change, and rural development. Her work focuses on translating research into impact by strengthening systems, partnerships, and capacities for scaling innovations across agri-food systems in the Global South.

At the CGIAR Impact at Scale Platform hosted at ILRI, Esther leads the Scaling Fund, which supports innovation teams to design, test, and implement robust scaling strategies through targeted funding, technical backstopping, and learning. The Fund also serves as a living laboratory, generating empirical insights that feed into the Science of Scaling—advancing CGIAR’s understanding of how scaling can be achieved responsibly, inclusively, and efficiently.

Esther has been instrumental in building the Science and Practice of Scaling collaboration between CGIAR and Wageningen University, and in growing a vibrant science of scaling community within and beyond CGIAR. She fosters joint research, capacity development, and institutional learning, while mentoring the next generation of scaling experts. Her work also advises programs and partners on responsible scaling approaches, and she has led multi-country initiatives embedding scaling principles into research and innovation systems.

A strong advocate for systems thinking and co-learning, Esther’s work bridges research, policy, and practice—helping shape how scaling science informs global efforts toward sustainable agricultural transformation and impact at scale. She holds a PhD in Knowledge Technology and Innovations from Wageningen University and Research.