Featured Resource: ExpandNet Scaling-Up Guides
By Dr. Jonathan A. Caballero, Strategic Operations Advisor
3-min read
Scaling-up an implementation initiative can be an incredibly exciting part of our journey as implementation support professionals. However, it can also be full of challenges and call for adaptations and changes that deserve deep and careful consideration.
A smart way to approach this objective is by learning from the experiences of professionals who have successfully scaled-up other initiatives and leveraging the many lessons they have learned and the recommendations that they have shared to make it easier for future teams transitioning into the scale-up phase of their initiatives.
ExpandNet is a global network of individuals seeking to advance the understanding of scaling-up initiatives, and their Scaling-up Guides are one way in which they support professionals to make it easier and practical to engage in this exciting but challenging phase.
Scaling-up Guides: Production, themes and languages
The team of ExpandNet produced the Scaling-up Guides in collaboration with the World Health Organization based on a combination of literature reviews and the experience of its members in scaling-up initiatives in many contexts, such as non-governmental organizations, academic/research institutions, and governmental ministries.
Having been produced by a global team, several of the Scaling-up Guides are available in a variety of languages, here are the themes covered in them:
Beginning with the end in mind – Offers recommendations for designing and implementing pilot projects, demonstrations, or planning a research project with scale-up in mind. It is available in English and French.
Nine steps for developing a scaling-up strategy – Provides step-by-step guidance to develop a scaling-up strategy. It is accompanied by practical worksheets which make it very easy for teams to jump straight into action. It is available in English, French and Spanish.
Practical guidance for scaling up health service innovations – Describes general principles and provides examples from case studies of successful scale-up initiatives. While it focuses on the scale-up of health services initiatives, the principles and case studies can be very helpful for implementation support professionals working in a variety of settings, beyond the healthcare sector. It is available in English.
Scaling-up your library of resources
In addition to the Scaling-up Guides, the team of ExpandNet shares a variety of resources on the topic of scaling-up. They include in-depth case studies, tools to manage and support the scale-up of initiatives, and a curated selection of academic publications.
We invite you to explore them and reflect on how you can use them to strengthen your scale-up activities and/or plan for them. And after doing it, if you are craving for even more tools and resources, check out TCI’s Toolbox to find relevant resources for any stage of your implementation initiative.
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