How a research-for-development project in semi-arid Tunisia is showing that lasting agroecological transformation can be achieved in just 18 months if you co-design for it. A persistent gap remains in agricultural development between the knowledge produced by research and the practical experience of farmers. Technologies are disseminated, projects are terminated and minor alterations are observed, but farmer’s everyday realities do not meaningfully change. The fundamental question that underpins a significant proportion of the most rigorous research in the domain of Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) does not pertain to the feasibility of transformation, but rather to the strategic design of ...

Despite increasing prioritization, resources, and efforts, climate action is still not achieving transformational impact at scale. Many efforts remain fragmented, stuck in pilots and other are bounded projects that do not shift the systems which shape the causes and consequences of climate change. Country platforms have been proposed as a potential approach to bring more strategic coherence to climate action at national scale. This is a potentially critical step towards transformational scaling. The Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) in Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa and Vietnam were seen as ways to push forward ambitious climate actions with more aligned donor support ...

Zimbabwe faces a significant burden of micronutrient deficiencies, particularly iron deficiency. Approximately 72 percent of children aged 6–59 months and 61 percent of women of reproductive age are affected by iron deficiency. Recognizing the need for sustainable, food-based approaches, the Government of Zimbabwe adopted biofortification as one of its key strategies to improve nutritional outcomes. As part of efforts to address these challenges, Zimbabwe’s Crop Breeding Institute (CBI) released its first iron-biofortified bean variety, NUA45, in 2010. This large, red-mottled bean differed from the cream-colored conventional sugar beans that dominated local markets. Initially, farmers were uncertain and consumers were hesitant ...

Across five countries, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, the Strengthening the Capacity of Women Religious in Early Childhood Development (SCORE) initiative (funded by Conrad N. Hilton Foundation from 2025-2028) is demonstrating what it looks like to create lasting change at scale by bringing together community leadership, government systems strengthening, and direct service delivery. In many of the communities where SCORE works, faith groups are seen as critical social service providers. Catholic Sisters are often the first point of contact for families in crisis, positioning them as trusted, locally rooted leaders who live and work alongside the communities they serve ...

For decades, the “last-mile” agricultural challenge in West Africa has been framed as a problem of poor infrastructure or farmer poverty. However, research conducted by the Village Input Fair Fund (VIFF) suggests a more structural diagnosis: a timing mismatch and a coordination failure could prevent rural markets from functioning. Farmers typically have liquidity immediately following the harvest, yet they are often forced to wait until the planting season, when cash is scarce, to purchase seeds and fertilizers. Simultaneously, private agro-dealers view remote villages as risky, high-cost environments, lacking the reliable demand signaling necessary to justify the journey. Our innovation, the ...

RésuméAu cours des dernières années, notre équipe pluridisciplinaire a constitué un portefeuille de travaux visant à rendre la mise à l’échelle plus structurée, responsable et équitable. Ancré dans des données probantes issues d’études empiriques et de revues, ce portefeuille a conduit au développement d’outils, à la mise à l’échelle d’innovations, à des activités de formation et à des initiatives de mobilisation des connaissances. Ensemble, ces contributions cherchent à renforcer les capacités systémiques nécessaires à une mise à l’échelle rigoureuse.Présentation de l’équipeBased in Québec, the francophone province of Canada, our team brings together members from the Chair in Shared Decision Making ...

What does it take to scale responsive public services in communities that governments have long neglected? This case examines that question through the experience of Asivikelane (‘Let’s protect one another’ in isiZulu), a South African campaign focused on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in informal urban settlements. Launched in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, Asivikelane has contributed to thousands of service delivery improvements reaching millions of informal settlement residents across South Africa’s eight largest cities, while evolving and deepening its scaling approach over time. The central lesson from Asivikelane is about what it takes to build the conditions for ...

AbstractOver recent years, our multidisciplinary team has built a portfolio aimed at making scaling more structured, responsible, and equitable. Grounded in evidence from empirical studies and reviews, this portfolio has led to the development of tools, the scaling of innovations, training activities, and knowledge mobilization initiatives. Together, these contributions seek to strengthen system capacity for rigorous scaling.Team OverviewBased in Québec, the francophone province of Canada, our team brings together members from the Chair in Shared Decision Making (Link), VITAM – Centre for Sustainable Health Research (Link), and the Québec Health and Social Services Support Unit (SPOR–CIHR) (Link). Team members come ...

Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, Room to Read develops children’s foundational literacy skills, as well as life skills that promote gender equality across 29 countries, with more than 60 million children cumulatively benefitted through our literacy and gender equality programming as of Dec 2025. Across a portfolio of over 15 countries, Room to Read has demonstrated an evidence-based approach to enhance foundational literacy among early grade children through a combination of a structured pedagogic approach to teach literacy and an exposure to appropriate children’s literature through functional school libraries. Building on these ...

Over 2.5 billion people can’t afford a healthy diet. Over half of all children and two out of three women globally are deficient in the essential micronutrients they need to thrive—affording nutritious foods is out of reach for many. For more than two decades, biofortification has proven to be a cost-effective, food-based solution to address hidden hunger. Scaling has gained momentum and millions of farming households and consumers in non-farming households globally, are now growing and eating biofortified foods, making tracking progress in a scaling phase of a technology complicated. So, one critical question has persisted: How do we accurately ...