Scaling readiness: concepts, practices and implementation

Published in January 2020 by the CGIAR, these new guidelines on scaling readiness encourage critical reflection on how ready innovations are for scaling, and what appropriate actions could accelerate or enhance scaling. Scaling readiness treats innovation as a flexible package of technological, organizational, and institutional components that may include crop varieties, machines or equipment, crop production practices, legislation, and marketing campaigns. It provides an approach that can support organizations, projects, and programmes in achieving their ambitions to scale innovations and achieve impact. Scaling readiness recognizes that an innovation may be ready in a technical sense – for example, a new crop variety may thrive in the local environment – but, if farmers lack funds to buy seed or if the policy environment discourages the uptake of new varieties, it may not be adopted at scale. Through its standardized data collection and analysis approach, scaling readiness can also be used to monitor an intervention portfolio at organizational level, allowing for evidence-based management.

The development of the scaling readiness apprach was led by Wageningen University and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in close collaboration with the CGIAR: International Potato Center (CIP), Bioversity International, and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).