BFS Scaling Workshop Report Final

The workshop aimed to share and validate preliminary evidence and recommendations from a series of case studies on the successful scaling of pro-poor agricultural innovations through commercial pathways. The workshop focused on lessons learned across five case studies, which examined the external conditions, necessary preconditions, characteristics, and strategies of the scaling process and the innovation. The five case studies focused on the scaling of hybrid maize in Zambia, irrigated rice in Senegal, Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags in Kenya, agricultural machinery services in Bangladesh, and Kuroiler chickens in Uganda. The workshop also organized facilitated discussions on incorporating scaling into project design, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and partnerships. The review team presented cross-cutting lessons learned from the five case studies, and the feedback and insights shared by participating experts will be incorporated into the final cross-cutting report being prepared by the review team. The workshop was attended by 42 people, including representatives from different USAID operating units, research institutions, implementing partners, and other organizations. The workshop was structured around three main themes and important characteristics of successful scaling: the key characteristics of the different innovations that facilitate (or impede) scaling up, the aspects of the local context and "spaces" that facilitate (or impede) scaling up, and the strategies and activities used to achieve successful and sustainable scaling up, both adoption and strengthening market systems and value chains. The workshop opened with the review team delivering summary presentations on cross-cutting conclusions and lessons learned from across the case studies. This was followed by a plenary discussion on the key topics discussed. The afternoon was structured similarly, with a brief presentation followed by breakout discussions on three topic areas: how donors can better integrate scaling up into project design, contracting mechanisms, procurement, implementation, and monitoring; M&E for scaling through commercial pathways; and leveraging partnerships and building pathways for scaling. Breakout sessions were followed by a facilitated plenary discussion, leading to the conclusion of the workshop. The workshop aimed to provide an overview of the workshop discussions, to document the feedback and ideas shared among participants, and to present key ideas and overarching themes that may be of interest to readers engaged in the scaling of agricultural innovations in developing countries. The case studies were conducted by the review team between the fall of 2015 and summer of 2016, and all case studies included in-country field work to interview and collect information from key stakeholders for each of the innovations examined. For each case study, the team collected data to examine six components of an innovation: the innovation's key characteristics, the quantity of scaling actually achieved over time and space and by demographic characteristics, the "business case" for adopters and suppliers, the external context for scaling, the scaling strategies and activities employed, and the innovation's potential demand and market size. The workshop was designed to be participatory and included presentations from review team members followed by facilitated plenary discussions and breakout groups. The workshop agenda is provided in Annex 1. The review team's research for the five case studies was part of the Bureau's efforts to successfully and sustainably scale up innovations supported through its current and future Feed the Future (FTF) activities, and to produce lessons and guidance that USAID/BFS and USAID Missions can apply to the design, procurement, implementation, and M&E of FTF activities.