Generation and sharing of scaling science knowledge with CultiAF-Plus

About this project

The science of scaling (or “scaling up”) has been evolving rapidly, moving beyond traditional paradigms toward a more nuanced, ethically grounded approach. IDRC's groundbreaking work on scaling science is built on four key principles: moral justification, coordination, optimal scale and dynamic evaluation. Rather than defaulting to the "bigger is better" mindset, this approach demands that scaling decisions be morally justified, considering both the values of implementing organizations and, crucially, those affected by the innovation. It emphasizes coordinated effort among stakeholders, recognizing that successful scaling requires meaningful engagement with both power holders and beneficiaries. Scaling was one of the key objectives of the Cultivate Africa’s Future (CultiAF) program initiative, a five-year CAD20-million program jointly funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and IDRC. Its objective was to improve food and nutrition security in Eastern and Southern Africa by funding applied research to develop and scale up sustainable, climate-resilient and gender-responsive innovations for smallholder producers. The CultiAF portfolio of projects therefore represents an opportunity to explore how the integration of principle-based scaling approaches into existing applied research projects can contribute to broadening their positive impacts. The proposed research will support two CultiAF-Plus projects, Scaling the impacts of pre-cooked bean innov…

Published by

International Development Research Centre · Other public sector

Countries

Kenya, Uganda

Sectors

Agricultural policy and administrative management

Focus

Gender equality · Also contributesClimate adaptation · Also contributes

Published by International Development Research Centre to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), last updated 1 Sept 2026 and imported automatically. IATI identifier: XM-DAC-301-2-110756-001.

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