Good Ideas Aren’t - Youth Economic Opportunities · Good Ideas Aren’t Enough: A Management...
Transcript of Good Ideas Aren’t - Youth Economic Opportunities · Good Ideas Aren’t Enough: A Management...
But….
• Most programs begin on a relatively small scale;
• Most social innovations don’t scale spontaneously;
• Relatively few projects are analyzed for scalability when
they are initially reviewed for funding; and
• Even fewer are managed to maximize the likelihood of
successful scaling up.
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That often leaves us with this theory of change….
“Successful” Pilot Project
+ HOPE =
Large-Scale Change
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A Strategic Approach to Scale
• Rooted in an 11-year applied research program called IPC
(Implementing Policy Change), related work at the Brookings
Institution, and parallel work on making markets work for the
poor
• Early funding from the MacArthur Foundation to develop and
test a management framework and a set of tools for (1)
assessing scalability, (2) designing pilot projects with scale in
mind, and (3) managing the scaling up process
• Applied for more than a decade across a wide range of
organizations, sectors and countries
• http://www.msiworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/MSI-
Scaling-Up-Framework-2nd-Edition.pdf
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A Three Step, 10 Task, Process
Step 1: Developing a Scaling Up Plan (Planning)
Task 1: Creating a Vision
Task 2: Assessing Scalability
Task 3: Filling Information Gaps
Task 4: Preparing a Scaling Up Plan
Step 2: Establishing the Preconditions for Effective Scaling Up (“Political”)
Task 5: Legitimizing Change
Task 6: Constituency Building
Task 7: Realigning and Mobilizing Resources
Step 3: Implementing the Scaling Up Process (Operational)
Task 8: Modifying and Strengthening Organizations
Task 9: Coordinating Action
Task 10: Tracking Performance and Maintaining
Momentum
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What is Being Scaled Up?
• Articulation of the model’s essential features
– Technical
– Financial
– Process
– Values
– Context
• Bundling and unbundling components
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How is it to be Scaled Up?
• Methods distinguished by the degree to which the
organization that managed the initial pilot – the Originating
Organization – continues to control implementation as the
model goes to scale:
– Expansion: the Originating Organization retains control of
implementation
– Replication: the Originating Organization transfers
control of implementation to another organization(s)
– Collaboration: the Originating Organization shares
control with one or more other organization(s)
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2nd Theory of Change
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“A bad system will trump a good program – every time, all the time.” Patrick McCarthy, CEO of the Annie E. Casey
Foundation
System Policy
Donor Program
Projects
“A bad system will trump a good program – every time, all the time.” Patrick McCarthy, CEO of the Annie E.
Casey Foundation
Who is taking model to scale?
Innovation
(Originating
Organization)
Intermediary
Organization(s)
Application
at Scale
(Adopting
Organization)
CONTEXT CONTEXT
Functions performed by “Intermediaries”
include…
• Strategic Planning
• Impact Evaluation
• Fundraising
• Advocacy and Marketing
• Convening and
Coordinating
Stakeholders
• Change Management
• Organizational
Development
• Systems Strengthening
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Two Key Questions: #1-- Is the model ready to be scaled up? (“readiness”)
• What standard of evidence has been applied?
– Innovation (minimal objective evidence)
– Promising Practice (anecdotal reports)
– Model (positive evidence in a few cases)
– Good Practice (clear evidence from several cases)
– Best Practice (evidence of impact from multiple settings
and meta-analyses)
– Policy Principle (proven; a “truism” essential for
success)
Source: Adapted from National Science Foundation 14
#2 -- What challenges will we face?
(“feasibility”)
• Credibility: hard evidence, credible supporters
• Observability: visible link to results
• Relevance: intensity of need, policy priority
• Comparative Advantage: improvement over existing
practices and alternatives
• Easily Adopted: simplicity, transferability
• Testability: by potential users on a modest scale
• Affordability: sustainable funding source
Source: Adapted from ExpandNet2011
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Scalability Checklist
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Requires a small absolute commitment of funds at scale
Requires a large commitment of funds at scale
Lesson #1: Simplify
The more you can simplify an intervention the more
feasible it is to scale it up.
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Lesson #2: There’s no substitute for markets and governments
Commercial markets are the world’s most cost-
efficient scaling mechanism; but they aren’t right for
everything or for everybody. For most social and
anti-poverty programs, governments play essential
roles in achieving sustainability and scale.
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Lesson #4: Tailor Evidence
to the Audience
Data from pilot projects are rarely tailored to the
decision-criteria or decision-making styles of
policy-makers.
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Lesson #5: Focus on Incentives
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For sustainable change to occur, it’s essential to
have an incentive system that reinforces needed
actions.
Lesson #6: Begin Advocacy and
Transfer of Ownership Early
Nobody likes scaling somebody else’s idea. The
chances of taking a pilot to scale are substantially
increased by establishing an advisory board or
some other mechanism for early engagement by
key decision makers and future implementers.
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Lesson #7: The Devil is in the Details
The transition onto large, sustainable platforms
requires countless adjustments and
accommodations, many of which are not initially
apparent.
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Scaling-Up Youth Workforce and
Enterprise Development Projects
• Multiple stakeholders; no central coordinator
• Most interventions begin without a scaling strategy --
modest scale, outside of government, and subsidized
• Need to reflect market realities
• Importance of youth voices and perspectives
• Lack of intermediaries
Mainstreaming Scaling Up in Funders
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• New roles and partnerships;
• Better design, evaluation, and use of pilot projects;
• New guidelines and instruments for assessing scalability
and for supporting the scaling up process;
• Financial and technical support for Intermediary
Organizations.
Scale –up Process. Key learnings Model documentation and simplification:
– Understanding the organizational, technical and process aspects was key to simplify the model and focus on its innovation:
• Youth Saving Groups (YSGs)
• Enterprise Your Life training (EYL)
– Documentation of the model is critical:
• A clear process guide for the YSGs and the EYL was key for the Scaling Up process
• A revised EYL manual in Arabic was important to simplify the language and make it youth and cultural friendly.
Evaluation & Evidence: – The self-assessment process
– External market research and evaluation by the American University of Cairo
Buy-in and support by key stakeholders at the regional, the governorate and the national levels will be key for the scaling up success
Defining the dimension of the “scale” is a complex process (starting with the end results)
Local partners’ capacity is an important factor for scaling up the simplified model
Tabletop Conversations
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• Each person identifies an intervention (i.e., project, policy or effort)
that he or she knows well and thinks might have potential to be
scaled-up.
• Pick a partner at your table, and – using the 3 highlighted questions
in Handout #1 as a guide -- describe to him/her the intervention and
your thoughts about scaling it up. (5 minutes)
• Switch roles and let your partner describe his or her intervention and
thoughts about scaling it. (5 minutes)
• Pair-Share Discussion: Select one of the two interventions and
reflect together on what could be done to facilitate the scaling up
process given what you learned from today’s discussions. (10
minutes)
Pair Share (20 minutes)
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• One person at each table volunteers to be facilitator.
• The facilitator invites participants to share their views with the whole
table about the scalability of the interventions they discussed. (20
minutes)
• The facilitator asks participants to individually review the Scalability
Assessment Checklist (Handout #2). (5 minutes)
• Using the Checklist of 28 items as a Guide, try to reach agreement as
a group on 2 or 3 major challenges that often affect scaling up of youth
workforce and enterprise programs and ideas for overcoming those
challenges. (25 minutes)
Tabletop Discussion (50 minutes)