Investments that catalyze livelihoods with poor households makes sense. Households that build income earnings, contribute to the local economy, and accumulate assets to build resilience and wealth. It is not everything a household needs but livelihoods build a strong foundation. Done well it allows the private sector and governments to move on to more advanced goals. Making investments in the poorest households makes sense - how do we do this effectively? This BRAC post outlines the Essentials of programs which are underpinned by the long term evidence. The rigor and evidence for the Graduation approach are strong, but WHY is ...

For decades, maize has been the Nigeria’s most consumed staple, eaten in forms ranging from tuwo and pap to roasted or boiled corn on the roadside. Yet, despite this dietary reliance a persistent exists a vitamin A deficiency, which affects millions of children and women, weakening immunity, impairing vision, and increasing vulnerability to disease. To address this, HarvestPlus and its partners introduced vitamin A maize (VAM), a biofortified crop developed through conventional breeding to contain higher levels of vitamin A. This single innovation has become a game-changer in Nigeria’s fight against hidden hunger. A Decade of Progress: From Pilot to ...

Despite clear evidence on what works to support improvements in ASRH outcomes, taking impactful programming to scale is rarely straightforward. This brief draws on experiences from the A360 and Connect projects in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh, and Tanzania to explore the difficult—but necessary—trade-off questions implementers face when designing for both impact and scale:  Do we invest in demand creation or in strengthening service delivery?  Do we keep interventions simple to facilitate scale—or intervene deeply to mitigate root causes?   Whose goals do we prioritize—government or donor?  Do we prioritize reaching the groups most impacted by inequities—or use a more broad approach to reach all?  These and other ...

Elimu-Soko is pleased to launch the Teaching Innovation Lab, in collaboration with the Gates Foundation. The Lab will pilot and scale evidence-based, cost-effective interventions for teacher training. This won’t be just another initiative; it will be an opportunity to scale evidence-based, cost-effective innovations within public education systems across Africa. The wake-up call: The funding landscape has fundamentally shifted in the last twelve months. With major donors reducing billions in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to education, the era of externally-funded programs is rapidly ending. Governments remain the only sustainable sources of education financing. What is desperately needed is the systemic piloting ...

Reflections from discussions convened in Cape Town, South Africa – 6 October 2025, sponsored by the CGIAR Scaling for Impact Program and hosted by Responsible Innovations. Authors include Erin McGuire, Ashley Mutiso, Eva Valencia Lenero, Hanna Ewell, Ojongetakah Enokenwa Baa, Dorcas Sanginga, Ana Maria Paez, Julie Newton, Anne Rietveld, Marya Hillesland, Lena Keller-Bischoff, Karen Nortje, Emily Hillenbrand, A group of scaling scientists, gender specialists, and innovation researchers met in Cape Town, South Africa, to reflect on how agricultural research for development (AR4D) can achieve greater and more equitable impact. The discussion centered on a key question: how can innovation systems ...

From 0 to 38 million farmers in just two years, PxD’s work shows how innovations in weather forecasting can be scaled rapidly and sustainably to strengthen climate resilience for smallholders.  In 2023, India’s Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) signed an MoU with the Development Innovation Lab India (DIL-India) to pilot and scale solutions at the intersection of climate change, food security, and farmer welfare. As part of this initiative, PxD partnered with DIL-India and MoA&FW to deliver seasonal forecasts digitally to farmers in 2024. The MoA&FW reached 8.6 million farmers across five states with total rainfall forecasts and ...

The phrase ‘scaling for impact’ has become a common term in agricultural development. While many scientifically sound technologies demonstrate promise in trials, few are widely adopted to make a real-world impact. The blame often falls on extension systems, but this is an oversimplification of the issue. In this blog, we argue that successful scaling requires rethinking how technologies are piloted, framed, and supported, recognizing the broader network of stakeholders and incentives involved. In his book ‘The Voltage Effect’, John List explores the idea of why some technologies scale, while many others fail to do so (even when most pilots report ...

What should CGIAR invest in next? With over 1,000 innovations in its global portfolio, answering this question isn’t just about good science—it’s about strategic decision-making. And at CGIAR Science Week, that decision-making took on a surprisingly playful form. At CGIAR Science Week, an unorthodox session titled “Game On: Playing with Complexity” brought researchers, practitioners, and development partners together—not to listen passively, but to play. And in doing so, to fundamentally rethink how we prioritize, fund, and scale innovations in agricultural research for development. Led by Iddo Dror, the session was facilitated by a team from ILRI, IWMI, the CGIAR Portfolio Performance Unit, and ...

Livestock is central to Ethiopia’s rural economy, providing food, income, and draft power for millions of smallholder farmers. Yet, the sector continues to face one persistent challenge, such as feed shortage. Poor feed quality and limited availability reduce animal productivity, constrain income, and keep many farmers from realizing the full potential of their herds. In Western Amhara, the Andassa Livestock Research Center (ALRC) has been working to address this problem by promoting two improved forage species, such as Desho (Pennisetum pedicellatum) and Napier (Pennisetum purpureum). These perennial grasses are known for their high biomass yield, adaptability, and role in soil ...

In 1944, Dan West and a group of fellow farmers from Indiana (United States) founded Heifer with a compelling idea: not a cup of milk, but a cow. This concept marked a paradigm shift from short-term aid to long-term empowerment through livestock. Since then, animals have remained central to Heifer’s mission to help rural families build sustainable livelihoods; ensure food and nutritional security; and subsequently break the cycle of poverty. For over 80 years, the organization has worked to strengthen smallholder farming households by advancing sustainable agriculture, with a focus on integrating livestock in agriculture, improving animal health management, and ...