scaling up, given that agriculture activities lie in the private sector and require private investment. Good pilot projects supported with donor money tend neither to gain traction nor be replicated and scaled up when they reside in a poor policy environment that inhibits private investment. IFAD is committed to supporting improvements in countries’ agricultural and rural policies and to working closely with private actors to ensure that they have the space to invest and produce. Sixth, IFAD will work closely with its partners to ensure that


promising innovations, successful pilots, and best practices are replicated and scaled up through joint or coordinated planning, financing, and implementation. A corporate partnership strategy is under preparation that will reflect these principles. Meanwhile, IFAD has already undertaken systematic outreach activities in an effort to promote a scaling-up community of practice, involving client governments, multilateral and bilateral financing agencies, research and technical support institutions, think tanks, foundations, and NGOs. Examples of IFAD’s outreach and partnership-building activities from 2009 to 2011 include mutual peer reviews and learning events to foster a common understanding of scaling-up concepts and issues and the implications of a scaling-up mind-set in our respective ways of doing business. Finally, managing for results, monitoring of project activities,


and measurement of impact are important in order to know what to scale up, how to scale up, and what the impact is likely to be. IFAD has already adapted its corporate-level management framework and is refining its project portfolio management approach to report explicitly and separately on the scaling-up dimension of its work. IFAD’s monitoring and evaluation approach at the project level will be enhanced to make it fully supportive of a scaling-up agenda at project, program, and/or sector levels. Meanwhile, IFAD’s Independent Evaluation Office has already adapted its evaluation criteria to reflect a focus on scaling up in evaluating IFAD’s country programs and individual projects.


Next steps


IFAD has only recently started on the journey of turning itself into a scaling-up institution. But its membership and management are


committed to pursuing this agenda. The next step for IFAD is to expand its knowledge through in-depth case studies and thematic reviews, which are currently under way. IFAD will at the same time enhance its country-level engagement with the development of guidance and training tools and through support for local capacity development. Management will review IFAD’s operational instruments and its budgeting and human resource management practices to ensure that the necessary instrumentalities, resources, and incentives are put in place to support the scaling-up process. A scaling up mind-set is not necessarily more costly or effort- intensive than the traditional way of operating, if it is done in the right way and given the opportunities to benefit from economies of scale and from partnerships in managing for greater impact and effectiveness. Part of the challenge is to set achievable and measurable


targets, monitor progress and impact, define mutual accountability frameworks and performance metrics at both country level and agency levels, and achieve efficiency gains. Risks associated with this institutional change include creating a new rote “mantra,” adopting excessively burdensome processes, or spreading resources too thin. There is an overarching need to keep IFAD’s goals focused and its processes simple. The effort will entail introducing and enforcing staff incentive systems that reflect the commitment to the scaling-up agenda. IFAD will monitor progress and results and adapt as it learns—and it will share.


For further reading: International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Independent Office of Evaluation, “Corporate Level Evaluation of IFAD’s Capacity to Promote Innovations and Its Scaling Up.” Rome: 2010; IFAD, “Partnership Building and Outreach on Scaling Up: An IFAD Hosted Learning Event,” Rome, October 26- 28, 2011, background documentation and presentations available at www.ifad.org/events/scalingup/index.htm; J. Linn, A. Hartmann, H. Kharas, and R. Kohl, “Scaling Up the Fight against Rural Poverty: An Institutional Review of IFAD’s Approach.” Global Working Paper 39, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2010.


Cheikh M. Sourang (c.sourang@ifad.org) is a senior program manager and coordinator of the Secretariat for Operational Policy and Strategic Guidance Committee of IFAD.


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