ANNUAL FORUM
Through its Annual Forums, the Scaling Community of Practice convenes global practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and funders to exchange evidence, experiences, and practical insights on advancing impact at scale. Browse this page to explore past Forums, including session highlights, speaker information, and available recordings.
The Hidden Architecture of Education Ministries: How Government Really Works (and Why It Matters for Scale)
Session Blurb Speakers Recording Additional Resources Across Africa, education innovators, funders, and implementers increasingly agree that government adoption is the only credible pathway to scale. Yet most sector conversations still treat “government” as a black box—engaged at moments of approval rather than understood as a complex system with its own incentives, constraints, and decision-making rhythms. As bilateral aid contracts and governments become the primary stewards of education reform, this gap in understanding has become one of the biggest barriers to sustainable impact.This session pulls back the curtain on how education ministries actually function. Anchored in a real-world case study from ...
Can Country Platforms Deliver Climate Action at Scale?
Session Blurb Speakers Recording Additional Resources This interactive webinar will explore the potential of country platforms as vehicles to accelerate and scale climate and development action, building on recent momentum (e.g., the launch of a Country Platforms Hub at COP30) while taking an honest look at the challenges that could limit their full impact. Drawing on perspectives from expert speakers working across finance, policy, and implementation, the session will examine what country platforms are achieving in practice and where gaps remain. Through a frank, solutions-oriented discussion, we will discuss the critical factors – such as governance, incentives, coordination, financing structures, ...
(De-)Scaling in Fragile and Conflict Affected States in the Age of Funding Cuts
Session Blurb Speakers Recording Additional Resources In many fragile states, traditional scaling avenues through government services are under severe strain as foreign assistance contracts and national budgets tighten. This dynamic is reshaping how essential services are delivered. Many have proposed the private sector as a potential solution to the withdrawal of foreign assistance. Private firms can bring investment, expertise, jobs, and service delivery. But, their presence in fragile settings remains limited and often requires targeted support and blended finance to mitigate high risks. This discussion will explore real-world experiences of loss of aid funding, shifting roles of governments, and where ...
Service Learning at Scale Youth Agency, Social Cohesion, and the Social Contract
Session Blurb Speakers Recording Additional Resources Service learning is one of the few youth development approaches that public systems can scale quickly—low cost, high visibility, and easily embedded in schools and civic programs. Yet high-quality service learning is difficult to execute: structure, reflection, and community relevance are essential for impact. As youth unrest grows globally, this session explores how well-designed service learning provides a constructive outlet for youth agency and strengthens the social contract, with employment emerging as its most tangible expression. We’ll examine how service learning and community engagement—done with rigor—can simultaneously build employability skills and reinforce social cohesion ...
Using ExpandNet’s framework, tools and online learning platform to advance country and global scaling goals
Session Blurb Speakers Recording Additional Resources Since 2003, the global ExpandNet network has been working to catalyze a paradigm shift towards more systematic, country-owned and locally-led scaling processes. ExpandNet members have been developing scaling-related guidance tools and providing technical support to advance the scale up of successfully tested interventions across a range of technical areas. Now with decades of practical country experience in the application of the guidance tools developed with WHO, both within and beyond the health sector, ExpandNet has turned to large-scale dissemination of learnings through its forthcoming Scale-up Learning Center (SLC) platform. The SLC is intended to make ...
Transformational Scaling in Practice: Insights from the Mainstreaming Initiative and What Comes Next
Session Blurb Speakers Recording Additional Resources Plenary Session 1 will launch the Synthesis Report and Policy Brief for the Scaling Community’s Initiative on Mainstreaming Scaling in Funder Organizations with a presentation and discussion of major findings and lessons. Under this Initiative, 28 case studies were prepared by and for a wide range of international funder organizations supporting development and climate action.The Session will explore (i) why it matters that funders support a systematic scaling process and how recipients see the funders’ role; (ii) what are good – i.e., transformational – scaling practices that funders should support; (iii) how funders have ...
Launching a movement to embed “transformational scale” in development and climate action
Session Blurb Speakers Recording Additional Resources Since the Scaling Community of Practice was established in 2015 years ago, the global context has shifted radically. It’s time now to turn our attention urgently to influencing current thinking about the way forward. Building on the experience of a three-year action research program, the SCoP has decided to turn its attention to a 5-year action agenda to align the practices, policies and priorities of governments, funders, innovators and implementers to align with the lessons we have learned about producing sustainable outcomes that match the scale of the development and climate problems they address ...
Annual Forum Review & Scaling Campaign Call to Action
Join the Scaling Community of Practice (SCoP) for a closing Plenary starting with a review of the key insights from this year’s Annual Forum. This will be followed by an interactive session where we want to hear from participants how they and their organizations may join us in launching the Scaling Campaign. We will discuss how the SCoP and our collective members can assist and enable one another to advance transformative scaling. We hope you will accept this Call to Action and join us for this exciting capstone event ...
Scaling 3.0, Future Directions for Scaling and for the Scaling Community of Practice
Description The session was divided in two segments. During the first segment Elissa Miolene engaged Larry Cooley, Isabel Guerrero, and Johannes Lin in a conversation about the progress with scaling over the last decade, what is getting in the way of change, what we learn from students today whom we teach about scaling, and what lessons are to be learned from the scaling experience of the SCoP itself. During the second segment, Larry and Johannes updated participants about the plans for the future of the SCoP and sought feedback and advice. Segment 1 All three panelists agreed that there has ...
Scaling Nutrition Interventions: The Role of the Private Sector
Description After being dormant for a few years, the Nutrition Working Group re-launched with a discussion on scaling nutrition interventions, focusing on the private sector. Charlotte Lane set the stage, challenging the status quo of hyper-localized, small-scale nutrition initiatives and advocating for a paradigm shift towards large-scale, impactful solutions. Her opening remarks underscored the opportunity to leverage the private sector's reach and efficiency to meet the nutritional needs of millions but indicated that mistrust and miscommunication may inhibit effective collaboration. Jenny Walton, representing HarvestPlus, built upon this theme, sharing the organization's success in integrating biofortified foods into the global food ...
